The Mighty Fall
by hunterofartemis080
Summary: There's a secret the Doctor has been keeping his entire life. There's something Adelaide can't forgive. The future is dark for the Time Lords Victorious. Will their relationship be able to survive? Seventh in the Crossed Stars. Time Lady - 12/OC
1. Will

**Will**

 _For Adelaide, Skaro was a sore place of discussion. Once, a Time Lady was killed by her people while attempting to visit Skaro as it healed from the Thousand Year War. Perhaps if she'd gone, she would have found the creator of the Daleks just as he created them. Perhaps, if she'd been a different person in any of her regenerations, she would have stopped him before they destroyed the Thals._

 _Perhaps._

 _But she was also the Time Lady who'd run from the Time War with a little boy bred to be a warrior for the Last Great Time War. Who'd honestly not known if she would have still run with him if she'd known who he was, despite how much she relied on logic._

 _Sadly, even the Betrayer can be betrayed, and the Time Lords were beginning to get protective of the Protector. She never got to Skaro._

 _Not, of course, until much later in her long life. Not until her sixth face._

 _But, of course, if there was one thing she attempted to hold true, no matter which face she wore, it was that she wanted to avoid the battlefield. It was not the side of the universe that she desired to learn about._

 _So when the TARDIS landed in the middle of a war zone, it was the Predator who emerged from the ship, hearing a child in the fog. "Help me! Someone, please! Help me! Help me!"_

 _He threw his sonic to the child. "Your chances of survival are about one in a thousand. So here's what you do. You forget the thousand, and you concentrate on the one. Pick it up. I said, pick it up!" the boy obeyed. "I'm straight ahead of you, about fifty feet. Can you see me?" the smoke cleared, letting the Time Lord actually see the little boy surrounded by hand mines. "The device in your hand is creating an acoustic corridor so that we can talk. Do you understand?"_

 _The boy frowned at him. "Who are you?"_

 _"Oh, I'm just a passer-by. I was looking for a bookshop; Adelaide has one that she keeps talking about that I want to get her. How do you think I'm doing?"_

 _"This isn't a bookshop."_

 _"No, this is a war. A very old one, going by the mix of technology. Which war is this? I get them all muddled up."_

 _He shook his head. "It's just the war."_

 _"Where am I? What planet is this?"_

 _"I don't understand."_

 _"Well, neither do I. I try never to understand. It's called an open mind and a love of mysteries. Now, you have got to make a choice."_

 _"A choice?"_

 _"Yes, you have got to decide that you're going to live. Survival is just a choice. Choose it now."_

 _"If I move," he looked down at the hand mines, "they'll get me."_

 _"I told you, you have one chance in a thousand. But one is all you ever need. What's your name? Come on, faith in the future. Introduce yourself! Tell me the name of the boy who isn't going to die today."_

 _"Davros." The Doctor stilled. "My name is Davros." And then the fog closed again. "Hello? Are you still there? Please, you've got to help me. You said I could survive. You said you'd help me. Help me!"_

|C-S|

This was not the first time that Adelaide had witnessed someone performing the necessary steps prior to a Time Lord's death, though this was the first time she wasn't actually doing it herself. The Doctor, currently, was alone in the top room of a tower surrounded by candles, attempting to meditate.

Adelaide, meanwhile, was outside the room reading a book. Though she had shown she could remain focused for a limited amount of time, the fact that the Doctor was, so far, seeming to be able to do the same was a testament to how serious the situation was.

Bors, a man whom the Doctor had made friends with almost immediately upon landing here, came up the stairs. "Lady Adelaide," he said, bowing slightly to her.

"He's not meant to be interrupted," she reminded him, at the same moment the Doctor called, "how many days have I been here?"

"About three hours," Adelaide told him before Bors could.

"Three hours?"

She glanced at Bors, who shrugged. "Nearly.

The Doctor sighed. "Maybe Clara's right. She keeps telling me I've got Attention Deficit...er...something or other." He picked up the goblet to his side, taking a drink and making a face at the taste, which had Adelaide raising her eyebrows.

Bors stepped forward. "What is your journey?"

"You can't go with him, Bors," Adelaide said.

"I'm pledged to your service" he looked to the Doctor "ever since you saved my life.

The Time Lord sighed again. "I didn't save your life. You had a splinter."

"Where is it you go, and why must you meditate first?"

"Someone I know is very sick. He'll want to see me before..." the Doctor paused, holding Adelaide's gaze, "While there's still time."

"An old friend?"

"Someone I've known a very long time."

Bors straightened. "If there is danger, let me ride at your side."

"You can't help me, not where I'm going. Not even Adelaide can. But I have to get myself ready. I have to be alone. I have to think. No more distractions."

Bors nodded, bowing slightly. "As you wish, Sir Doctor." He turned to leave just as the Doctor took another drink, making another face.

"Urgh. Hang on a minute." He stood, turning. "The water."

"The water, sir?"

"I don't like it. I can't meditate properly without decent water." The Doctor gave the goblet to Bors as he left, the man sniffing the liquid.

Adelaide, sighed, followed him down the stairs.

|C-S|

 _For the Doctor, the planet Karn has always held a strong place in his hearts. It was, after all, where he became the Warrior that ended the last Time War. Where he'd, unknowingly, first heard of Adelaide and what she had done instead of fight the war._

 _And now, it was where he ran when Colony Sarff was looking for them._

 _For Sarff was looking for both Time Lords...even if it wasn't clear if Sarff was looking for Adelaide in order to find the Doctor._

 _Thankfully, no matter the reason, Karn was always willing to protect him. Always willing to offer him some sort of salvation._

 _When Sarff came to Karn, it was Ohila, the woman who turned the Doctor into the Warrior, who faced them. "Welcome, Colony Sarff. We are the Sisterhood of Karn. If you do not leave our world immediately, we will take your skin."_

 _"Where are the Doctor and the Protector?"_

 _"Where they always are. Right behind you, and one step ahead. Tread carefully when you seek the Time Lords Victorious, Colony Sarff, or they will be the last thing you find."_

 _"Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark Lord of Skaro."_

 _Ohila nodded. "What of him?"_

 _"Davros is dying."_

 _"Davros is ancient. He should have been dust centuries ago."_

 _"He has a message for the Time Lords Victorious."_

 _"Then you will give it to me." Colony Sarff writhed, attempting to shift as their powers normally allowed. "Your powers mean nothing here. Give me the message and leave."_

 _"Tell the Doctor...Davros knows. Davros remembers. Tell him that he must face Davros one last time." There was thunder and lightning as Colony Sarff turned to leave. "Davros knows. Davros remembers."_

 _Only once Colony Sarff was out of sight did Ohila turn to address the Time Lords close behind her. "Doctor?" for even though Colony Sarff sought Adelaide as well, this encounter proved that, as they'd guessed, it had been to find the Doctor. "What have you done?" The Doctor did not look at her, only turned slightly more to face Adelaide, who stood at his side, the Time Lady standing with crossed arms. "He has asked to see you. His servants seek you everywhere. Will you go?"_

 _"No."_

 _Ohila shook her head. "Why do you always lie?"_

 _"Why do you always assume I'm lying?"_

 _"It saves time," Adelaide told him, making him smile slightly._

 _"The truth; will you go?"_

 _"No."_

 _"When?"_

 _"Soon."_

 _"Why? Did something happen?"_

 _"No."_

 _"Was it recent?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _Ohila shook her head. "Whatever it was, you owe that creature nothing."_

 _"He and I've known each other a long time."_

 _"You've been enemies for all of it."_

 _The Doctor shrugged. "An enemy's just a friend you don't really know yet." He paused, looking at Ohila. "Sorry. What, was that me being cynical again?"_

 _"Aren't we friends, Doctor?"_

 _"That's different." He waved a hand. "I don't like you!"_

 _Ohila laughed. "Which means you can trust me."_

 _The Time Lords looked at each other again. They'd guessed what Colony Sarff wanted to find them for, they'd discussed what they'd need to do. What the Doctor would need to do, because Adelaide had been right as she'd gone to death in her last regeneration. "You know who to give this to?" He drew a disc from his coat, giving it to Ohila. "I won't go straight away. We'll hang out for a bit. Probably meditate on a rock somewhere. Get myself ready."_

 _"You are embarking on an enterprise that will end in your destruction."_

 _He shrugged. "You could say that about being born."_

 _"Wherever you go, there are people who care enough to find you."_

 _Adelaide nodded. "Help me look after the universe for him. He's put a lot of work into it."_

 _"Anyone can hide from an enemy, Time Lords. No one from a friend."_

|C-S|

The Doctor led the peasants, carrying shovels, around the outside of the castle, Adelaide at the back of the group. "We're going to dig a well!" he announced. "Right on..." he stopped, looking down, "this spot. There will be excellent water here."

"How'd you know?"

"Oh," the Doctor shrugged, "I'm very good at water."

Five days later, the Doctor had picked, once more, another spot. "This is definitely a good spot for water."

Bors shook his head. "But this is the twelfth place you've made us dig."

Adelaide, who now stood next to the Doctor, sighed. "Twelve is his lucky number."

More days, more failing to dig a well. "Here...no, here...look at this grass...this is watery grass...follow the squelchy..."

It was only on the twelfth day that the peasants had finally found actual water and built an actual well, Bors drawing a bucket of water for the Doctor. "Well, you've all the water you need and it is the finest in the land. Your meditation can begin."

The Doctor looked to Adelaide who, honestly, had grown more and more annoyed at how much the Doctor was goofing off. "Yes, I suppose it can. Except..."

"Except?" Adelaide said.

"Do you know what this well really needs?"

"Nothing. It's perfect."

"A visitor's center."

Adelaide just put a hand on her forehead and sighed.

By the seventeenth day, the Doctor sat by a fire outside making coins disappear, Adelaide in her own chair with a journal attempting to draw a diagram of a plant she'd found that she was fairly certain was actually alien.

Bors, caring an armful of scrolls, approached them both though, as the Doctor was the one who'd gotten involved, he addressed the Time Lord. "Everyone has agreed on the plan for the throne room extension, but we're...we're not quite sure what you mean by a sunroof."

"Look at this coin." The Doctor held one up. "You see it?"

Bors, dropping the scrolls, leaned closer. "I see it."

The Doctor waved his hands, fisted, in the air. "Where is it now?"

"There." Bors pointed to a hand.

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is. I saw it."

"Are you sure? I'm really a very good magician."

Bors frowned at him. "What is it you dread?" That made Adelaide look up.

"Why would I dread anything?"

"You're always making jokes. You never sit still, like you're running in fear of days to come."

The Doctor turned to look at him. "I thought you were an idiot."

Bors nodded. "I know. I thought that too."

"Good. I was worried I would have to break it to you, and Adelaide would probably hate me for that."

|C-S|

For Clara, teaching was always what she returned to. Sure, traveling the universe with two aliens who were so in love that before they'd admitted it to each other she'd just wanted to shove them together as much as physically possible was fun, but teaching was always what she preferred.

Even when she was catching kids chewing gum.

"Will I get it back after school?" Ryan asked, leaning back from spitting it into the wastebasket. The rest of the class made faces of disgust at that comment.

"How will you know which one's yours?" the class laughed. "Fine, then. Right. Now, where was I?" she deposited the basket, starting to walk back through the desks. "Jane Austen. Amazing writer, brilliant comic observer, and strictly among ourselves, a phenomenal kisser." As she neared the window and looked out, she paused.

No...

"Miss?" Alison asked. "Miss?"

"Miss?"

An airplane had stopped in the sky.

"Is she okay?"

Clara ran to her desk, grabbed a marker, and returned to the window to draw a circle around the plane. "Everybody turn on their phones. News websites and Twitter." She opened the window, looked out, then closed it again, but the plane was in the exact same place.

"Twitter?" Ryan frowned.

"Hashtag: 'ThePlanesHaveStopped'."

Another teacher, Mr. Dunlop, appeared at her door. "Miss Oswald, a call at the office."

"Yeah," Clara nodded, "that would probably be UNIT."

"They're telling me you're needed. They were going to put me through to the Prime Minister."

Clara stepped out of her room. "Mr. Dunlop, sorry. I have to take the rest of the day off owing to a...er...personal crisis."

|C-S|

On the twenty-first day, the Doctor returned to the room.

"Are you sure?" Bors asked him.

The Doctor nodded. "I've been avoiding it. One last night, then we have to go."

"Do you wish to be alone?"

The Time Lord moved to the side, beginning to rearrange the candles. "I have to prepare myself."

"But why?" Bors looked to Adelaide. "You've never explained."

"The Doctor did something wrong," she explained, for even if she was joining him the guilt still lied with him. "He let somebody down when...when he should have been brave enough and strong enough to do better."

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow, I pay the price. Tonight, I make myself ready." He took his spot.

"Goodbye, Magician," Bors said, stepping forward and holding out his hand to the Doctor. "You have widened my mind."

The Doctor stood again, taking Bors hand. "You do realize you're still an idiot."

Bors nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. I have to be quiet now. Quiet as the grave."

Bors smiled. "I do not believe you are capable of silence. Her, perhaps," he nodded at Adelaide, "but not you, Magician."

"Oh? Oh, well, we'll see about that, shall we?"

"We shall, Sir Doctor."

Bors left, the Doctor taking his chalk and beginning to write on the floor, Adelaide merely watching from the doorway. "No more distractions," he mumbled to himself. "Got to focus. No more distractions..." he glanced over to the Time Lady. "Bors!" The man returned as Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Are you any good with a broadsword?"

"Yes."

The Doctor held up his spoon. "Fancy a friendly?"

"Enough, Magician!" The Doctor paused. "I do not believe that you will meditate. It is not in your nature. If this is to be your last night here then we shall celebrate. There shall be revels. But first, tell me your story." He looked between them. "Both of you, even if you do not meditate, Scientist. Tell me how you came to this place and why now you are compelled to leave it. I will not depart this room until you do so."

The Doctor stood. "I suppose I do owe you."

"I have served you loyally, Sir Doctor."

"Yes. Yes, you have."

"Then begin your tale."

He looked back to Adelaide, the Time Lady nodding, before speaking. "Well, a little while ago, a very long way from here, I was looking for a bookshop to buy a present. Instead, I found a battlefield." He sighed. "Story of my life, opposite of Adelaide's. I've seen many battlefields, and her so few. But this one will be different. This one will be my last."

|C-S|

Clara entered UNIT headquarters as Kate spoke. "...radio silence. I've got to go. Tell the President I'll call him back." Kate looked to the side. "She's not answering their phone. Have you tried?"

"We don't know enough yet. He doesn't appreciate gossip."

Kate frowned. "Gossip?"

Clara stopped beside her. "How many planes?"

"4,165 aircraft currently airborne," Jac, one of Kate's employees, said.

"That's a lot of passengers."

Clara nodded. "That's a lot of fuel."

Kate's eyes widened. "Oh, dear God. Yes, it is."

"Okay, so, what could you do with 4,000 flying bombs?"

"Ah, well, 439 nuclear power stations currently active."

Kate nodded. "What else?"

"I dunno." Clara shrugged. "Er...fault lines. Earthquake...a tsunami?"

"Running simulations now."

"So this is an attack?"

But Clara shook her head. "What kind of an attack advertises? Why show somebody what you can do? Why not just do it? What's actually happened to the planes? What are the pilots saying?"

Kate glanced to the side. "We...we can't contact them."

"The planes haven't stopped, they're actually frozen," Jac explained. "Like, frozen in time. Pardon my sci-fi, but this is beyond any human technology."

"Okay," Kate nodded, "so we need the Doctor."

"Kate, we can't just phone the Time Lords and bleat, he'll go Scottish before she can stop him. Come on. What have we got? What do we know? It's not an attack, it's not an invasion, because, well, that doesn't come with a fair warning." Clare frowned. "So, somebody needs our attention. Somebody who needs to put a gun to our heads to make us listen." She looked down, seeing something on a screen. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"We've got a message," Mike called. "The TARDIS channel."

"Sorry, what?"

"They never use it," Kate said. "I doubt either of them remember it even exists."

"Then who is it?"

"Decrypting," Mike said, getting to work. "We're getting text through, I think."

"Texting?" Clara shook her head. "Definitely not the Doctor or Adelaide."

The computer beeped as it started to display the message: 'You so fine'.

"Have you got any more?"

Mike nodded. "Coming."

'You blow my mind. Hey Missy, you so fine, you so fine, you blow my mind! Hey Missy!'

The image switched to Missy herself. Very much not dead. "Today, I shall be talking to you out of..." her face burst out of the screen, "the square window!"

"What the hell was that?" Kate gasped, stepping back. "How did she do that?"

"Dunno." Jac shook her head. "Some sort of psychic projection, or something."

"Oh great, thanks."

"Okay, cutting to the chase," Missy continued. "Not dead, back, big surprise, never mind. I'm in a lovely little square in one of your, oh," she looked around, "I don't know, hot countries. There's a light breeze coming from the east, this coffee" she held up the cup "is a buzz-monster in my brain, and I'm going to need eight snipers."

Kate frowned. "Eight what?"

"Three for each heart, and two for my brain stem. You'll have to switch me off fast, before I can regenerate. How fast can you get here? Ooo, I'll need to arrange you in a flight corridor." Missy licked her finger and began to mess with her controller.

"Why do you need snipers?"

"Because it's the only way she'll feel safe enough to talk to me." Missy looked up, somehow managing to look directly at Clara. "Shall we say four o'clock?"

|C-S|

Clara was extremely wary as she emerged from the car in the square Missy had commandeered. The woman in question was sitting at a table sipping her espresso, looking entirely unbothered by the snipers and various other agents surrounding her.

When Clara walked across the square, the birds that had gathered scattered. Missy gestured for her to sit. "Go on, then." Clara did so, the Time Lady taking another sip. "How's your boyfriend? Still tremendously dead, I expect."

"Still dead, yeah." Clara crossed her arms. "How come you're still alive?"

"Death is for other people, dear. Would you like to sit in the shade? I know how you humans burn." She used her controller to bring a plane above them, covering them in shadow. "Better? I expect you've tried to contact them by now. Well, you should know, I can't find them either. No one can."

"That happens, now and then, especially when Adelaide gets distracted."

"Not like this." Missy pulled a disc from her pocket and placed it on the table. It was covered in what Clara recognized as Gallifreyan, but couldn't translate. "It's a confession dial."

"A what?"

"In your terms, a will. The Last Will and Testament of a Time Lord known as the Doctor," she gestured at it. "To be delivered, according to ancient tradition, to his closet friend on the eve of his final day."

"Where's Adelaide's?"

"Unless you have not received one, it appears that she is not set to die this time."

Clara frowned. "Me?"

"With the Doctor otherwise engaged," Missy nodded again at the dial, "I do believe you are Adelaide's next closest friend. She and I only had what one could call a 'work relationship'."

"Then why did you get the Doctor's?"

"Well, of course it was sent to me. I'm his friend. You're just..."

"I'm just what?"

"See that couple over there?" Missy nodded to the couple walking, entirely unbothered by the state of the square, a bit away. "You're the puppy."

"I'm Adelaide's assistant."

"Yes, but that means nothing to your relationship with the Doctor and mainly speaks to the fact that Adelaide was never the sort of person who made friends, giving her very few options in the confession dial delivery department."

"But why didn't Adelaide get it? And since when do you care about the Doctor?"

"Since always." Missy smiled. "Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President's wife. Since he was a little girl." She smirked. "One of those was a lie. Can you guess which one?"

Clara shook her head. The fact that, out of the entire universe, Missy claimed that she would be the one to receive Adelaide's confession dial if the situation came to it gave her a bit of confidence at the moment. "He's not your friend. You keep trying to kill him."

Missy shrugged. "He keeps trying to kill me. It's sort of our texting. We've been at it for ages."

"Mmm, must be love."

"Oh, don't be disgusting," Missy scoffed. "We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilization, and infinitely more complex. And besides, the two of them are Aligned, which my dear friend has taken to mean they're destined to be together forever. Sad, really, that she doesn't always agree..." her smirk returned. "Oh, but that's some spoiler, isn't it?"

"You never said why Adelaide didn't get his confession dial."

"Have you not been listening? The Doctor and Adelaide may think that Aligning means they're destined to be together forever, but I have known the Doctor for far longer regardless. I know him far better than she could ever hope to; your boss is still attempting to figure out exactly what type of person he is."

Clara crossed her arms. "So the Doctor is your bezzy mate and I'm supposed to believe that you've turned good?"

 **A/N: Hmm...maybe we'll finally get some more answers on the Aligning front...and what does Missy know will happen that she's not telling us...;)**

 **Welcome to the seventh part of this series! Must say, this is a good two-parter to open this story with. Missy has always been my favorite, and particularly with this story and Adelaide.**

 **As a refresher, I picture Adelaide's current regeneration (her 6th) to resemble Julianne Moore. She tends to favor dark pants, dark green/black tank-tops, and a longer leather-style coat or sweater. Her Polyvore set (and those of all her regenerations) is viewable on my Tumblr, if you're curious.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**


	2. Won't

**Won't**

The human almost immediately regretted saying that.

"Good?" Missy, without looking, turned and used her device to disintegrate an agent standing on the stairs.

"Man down!"

Clara stood, moving towards him. "No!"

"By the ring on his finger, he was married, and I...I think I detected some baby leakage on his jacket, so he had a family. No, I've not turned good." She shot someone else. "Ooh, wow, I'm on a roll. Thanks for bringing spares!"

"Stop it." Clara turned back to her. "Just stop it. Don't shoot anybody else!"

"Oi, you, sweaty one," she turned to a third, standing by the car, "on your knees. Let's have a goodbye selfie for your kids." The agent obeyed.

"Missy, nobody else!"

"Say something else."

"No."

"I'll kill everyone in this square."

Clara hurried back to the table. "Start with me. Then what, hey? You came here for my help."

"Because the Doctor is in danger."

"Make me believe you."

"How?"

"Release the planes."

"The planes are keeping me alive. I mean, there's one," she pointed at each of them as she named them, "two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight naughty little snipers ready to kill me."

Clara nodded. "Yes. On my command." She held up her arm. "Your best friend and probably someone I care very deeply about are in danger. Show me you care. Make me believe."

Missy, after a moment of staring at Clara, released the planes. "It's only a basic Time Stop. Parlor trick. Couldn't have done anything with them anyway."

Clara lowered her hand. "What do they say?"

"What does what say?"

"The confession."

"It will only open when he's dead."

Clara nodded. "Then it won't open, will it?"

"Question. If the Doctor has one last night to live, if he's certain he's facing the end of his life, where, in all of space and time, would he go?"

For even if Adelaide was with the Doctor, which they both believed she was, the man was the one with a confession dial. The man was the one with one last night of life.

The man was the one who'd pick where they'd go.

"Here."

"Well, yes, Earth, obviously! But where? When?"

|C-S|

One of the surviving agents brought Clara and Missy a computer that connected to Jac and Kate back in UNIT headquarters, those two women bringing up a world map. "The algorithm generates probabilities based on crisis points, anomalies, anachronisms, keywords," Jac explained.

"Such as?" Kate asked.

"Blue box, Doctor, Protector." Dots began to appear on the map as the algorithm found points of interest. "There we go. San Martino, Troy, multiples for New York, and three possible versions of Atlantis. It's easier than you'd think. The Doctor makes a lot of noise and he loves to make an entrance. Adelaide is, honestly, quite a bit harder when she's on her own, but thankfully that doesn't happen often."

Kate nodded. "But which one is the one? Where is he now?"

Clara looked to Missy, who was standing at her side. "How's a Time Lord supposed to die?"

"Meditation. Repentance and acceptance. Contemplation of the absolute."

She nodded. "Great, thanks. Change the algorithm. Eliminate the crisis points. Where is the Doctor making the most noise, but there isn't any crisis?" she sighed. "We're looking for a party." The map shifted, dots going out, until just one was left. "There he is. 'Do not go gentle into that good night'."

Missy grinned. "You go, girl!" she put something on Clara's wrist and they both vanished.

|C-S|

They reappeared in castle ramparts, falling to the ground. "Whoo, whoo, whoo!" Missy cheered. "Mummy, do it again!" Clara sat up, looking heavily confused. "Vortex manipulators." She held up her wrist. "Yours is slaved to mine. Cheap and nasty time travel."

They could hear cheers in the courtyard below, as well as a man calling: "Face me, Magician! Face me!"

"You probably want to throw up, don't you?" Missy stood. "Pick a local. According to you, this is where the Doctor is." They both looked down at the crowd below. "And, I suppose, clever little Adelaide."

Clara scanned the crowd. "Okay, how do we find him? How do we know what we're looking for?"

"Anachronisms. The slightest, tiniest..." there was a guitar riff that had Missy raising her eyebrows, "anachronisms."

As they watched, the Doctor entered the courtyard on the back of a modern tank playing the guitar and wearing sunglasses. The crowd got even louder and the man who'd shouted, holding an ax, lowered it with an open mouth. The Doctor, finishing, bowed to what seemed to be the Lord and Lady.

"Dude!" Bors called. "What is that?"

"You said you wanted an ax fight." There were some chuckles. "Oh, come on. In a few hundred years, that'll be really funny. It's a slow burner." He jumped off the tank.

The man shook his head. "A musical instrument is not an ax."

"Yes, and a daffodil is not a broadsword, but I still won the last round!" The crowd cheered again, the Doctor spinning with his arms spread wide. "What do you think of my tank?" he gestured back at it. "Don't worry, it isn't loaded."

The man shook his head. "I don't like it."

"No, neither do I. I brought it for my fish."

"Your fish?"

"I may have ordered online!" No one laughed at that. "Oh, come on. Fish? Tank? Honestly, this stuff will be hilarious in a very few hundred years. Do please stick around."

Clara frowned, still not seeing Adelaide anywhere. "What's the matter with him? He's never like this."

Missy glanced at her. "Oh, you really are new, aren't you?"

In the next moment, the Doctor glanced up at them, looking directly at Clara. "Wait, hang on," Clara leaned closer. "Did he just hear that? He doesn't know we're here, does he?"

The Doctor began to play 'Pretty Woman', turning back to the crowd. "Now, you lot. I have been here all day, and it's been a great day!" Clara turned to go down the stairs to where he was.

The man shook his head. "You've been here for three weeks."

"Three weeks? It must be nearly bedtime. Well, we've partied!" Cheers again. "Yes! I helped you dig a well, with a first-class, child-friendly visitor's center! With the help of my delightful lady Adelaide," he gestured to the side, below where just Missy was now standing, "I've given you some top-notch maths tuition in a fun but relevant way. And I have also introduced the word 'dude' several centuries early. Let me hear you!"

"Dude!" the crowd cheered.

Clara stepped up beside where Adelaide was standing with her arms crossed. "Hello Clara," the Time Lady said, still watching the Doctor as he entertained the crowd. "Good of you to come."

"Did you know I would?"

"No. I had honestly hoped that Missy would be clever enough not to seek you for assistance but, I suppose, I can never hope to know that woman."

"I like it." The Doctor grinned, stepping back. "But I've got some sad news for you, dudes. Tonight, I'm going to have to leave you." The crowd cried out in annoyance. "But before I do, I'd like you to meet a couple of friends of mine." He turned, gesturing to Clara, who stepped past Adelaide.

Clara waved at the crowd, stepping up to the Doctor to whisper to him. Meanwhile, Missy came up behind Adelaide. "And hello Missy," that time, Adelaide did turn to look at her. "Good to see you again."

"And the same to you, delightful Protector." The Doctor hugged Clara tightly. "I wonder if you two have any more fixed events. After all, wasn't he meant to die on Trenzalore?"

"Weren't you meant to die on Gallifrey?"

"Ah, but it seems I had a Protector of my very own." She nodded towards the courtyard. "Come along. I do believe your Aligned wants to see us."

"I spent all day yesterday in a bow tie, the day before in a long scarf," the Doctor called. "It's my party, and all of me is invited." He turned to the two Time Ladies, riffing 'Mickie' as Missy walked in, Adelaide following a step behind.

"What the hell are you up to, man?" Missy asked him.

"It's the wicked stepmother! Everyone hiss!" The crowd obeyed, Missy bowing and flourishing a handkerchief. "But don't worry, a tree nymph is here to strike her down!" he gestured at Adelaide as the Time Lady came to a stop beside him, the crowd switching to cheers.

"Apparently," Missy said, drawing their attention again, "you think you're going to die tomorrow." She held up the Doctor's confession disc.

"Well, I've got some good news about that."

"Oh, yeah?"

"It's still today!"

Missy nodded. "Oh, that's very good."

The Doctor played another riff just as the man started to choke, making him turn. "Bors! Is it a marble again? Did you swallow one of the marbles I gave you? Adelaide's not supposed to know that! Don't swallow marbles!" he pulled a snake from Bors' throat and threw it to the side, though the snake simply slithered into the robes of Colony Sarff.

"Doctor. Your friends have led me to you. You will come."

"Says who and whose army?" Colony Sarff split into separate snakes, the robe dropping away to reveal just how many there were. The crowd, screaming, fled. "Nobody dies here. Not one person, not one of my friends, do you understand?"

"Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark lord of Skaro, is dying."

The Doctor nodded. "So I hear."

"He would speak with you again on the last night of his life."

"Then you will harm nobody in this place," Adelaide said. "Not a single person. Do you understand?"

Colony Sarff returned to their humanoid form. "Are you so dangerous, little man and little lady?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "You want to know how dangerous we are? Davros sent you. You know how stupid you are? Huh? You came!" Colony Sarff hissed. "Is that supposed to frighten me? Frighten us? Snake next in a dress? Now, explain, politely, because Adelaide is here. Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?"

Missy frowned, holding up a hand. "No, wait, hang on a minute. Davros is your arch-enemy now?"

"Hush!"

"I'll scratch his eye out."

"Davros knows. Davros remembers." Colony Sarff held out a sonic screwdriver that everyone gathered there recognized, tossing it to the Doctor's feet. The Time Lord hung his head at the sight.

"That's yours," Clara breathed.

"Er...it was."

"Was?"

"I don't have a screwdriver anymore."

Missy leaned slightly, looking at the Doctor's face. "Ooo...never seen that before. Doctor, the look on your face. What is that?"

"Shame," Clara provided. "You're ashamed. Doctor? What have you done?"

The Doctor said nothing to them, only turned to Adelaide, took her hand, nodded, and stepped closer to Colony Sarff. "Is your ship in orbit?"

Missy's eyes widened and she rushed forward. "It's a trap."

"Prepare yourself for teleport."

"Doctor, listen to me. I know traps, traps are my flirting. This is a trap."

The Doctor just nodded again. "I am prepared."

"You sent me your confession dial. You threw yourself a three-week party. You're leaving Adelaide behind. You know what this is."

"Yes. Goodbye." He looked to the side, to where Clara was. "Goodbye, Clara." He turned and one of Colony Sarff's snakes bound his wrists behind him.

Clara looked at Missy before stepping forward. "We're coming with him. Both of us, her and me." Both women turned.

"No, you can't," Adelaide said. "Please, no."

he Doctor looked to Colony Sarff. "What are you doing now?"

"Voting. We are a democracy...it is agreed."

Snakes bound the two women's wrists, Adelaide closing her eyes. "No, no, no!" the Doctor shouted. "I forbid it, no! No! No! No! No!"

But, together, they all vanished, leaving Adelaide alone in the courtyard.

Or so she thought.

Bors stepped out from where he'd been hiding, making Adelaide turn to him. A Dalek eyestalk was protruding from his forehead.

Of course.

|C-S|

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Missy, and Clara sat in the back of Colony Sarff's ship, the Doctor attempting to take some sort of comfort in the fact that, as far as he knew, Adelaide at least was still perfectly safe.

"Davros is the child of war, a war that wouldn't end," he explained to Clara. "A thousand years of fighting, till nobody could remember why. So Davros, he created a new kind of warrior, one that wouldn't bother with that question. A mutant in a tank that would never, ever stop. And they never did."

Clara nodded. "The Daleks?"

"How scared must you be to seal every one of your own kind inside a tank?" the Doctor paused. "Davros made the Daleks, but who made Davros?"

There was a sound and the view outside the window stilled. "Okay, great," Missy said, sitting up again. "Coming out of hyperspace."

They all looked out to what appeared to be a space station nearby. "So that's where he ended up."

"What is that?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "A hospital?"

|C-S|

The Doctor really wished Adelaide was there because he was almost certain the Time Lady would have come up with a polite and successful way to tell Missy to shut up, as she was currently singing wordlessly. Granted, it had been useful in the beginning, proving the quality of the acoustics, but she'd just kept going.

"How long have we been waiting?" Clara asked him, attempting to ignore the other Time Lady.

"Who knows? It's always the way with hospitals."

They all turned as the door opened and Colony Sarff entered. "You will come," they told the Doctor. "You will stay." To Missy and Clara.

Missy nodded. "Fair enough."

As the Doctor made to follow Colony Sarff, Clara moved forward, stopping him. "Doctor. You sent Missy your confession dial."

"Well, we've known each other a long time, longer even than I've known Adelaide. She's one of my own people."

"My point is, we both saw her die on Earth, ages ago. And obviously you knew that wasn't real. Or worse, hoped it wasn't. Either way, I think you've been lying."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "Don't apologize. Make it up to me. There, see? Ha. Now you have to come back."

The Doctor just followed Colony Sarff, though he paused next to Missy. "Gravity," he whispered.

The Time Lady made a face. "I know."

The door closed behind the pair of them, Missy almost immediately beginning some sort of tap dance. Clara glanced at her. "Gravity?"

"Oh, yeah. You know what's wrong with the gravity in here?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Well, clearly being with Adelaide isn't as helpful as I thought. Nothing. It's perfect. But this is a space station, so the gravity should be artificial, all coppery-smelling round the edges, a tiny bit sexy." She put on an accent. "But this feels real, man." Back to Scottish. "Like a planet."

Clara frowned. "How can you and the Doctor be friends?"

"Why shouldn't we be?"

"You spend all your time fighting."

"Exactly." Missy nodded. "Even the lovebirds fight. What's important is if you make up afterward." She pulled her wrists apart, flinging the dead snake that had been binding them to the side, and paused by the door. "You know what this airlock is? I'll tell you. It's pants."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean today might be the day."

"What day?"

"The day I kill you." She turned to the controls, starting to mess with them.

"What are you doing? Are you opening it?"

Missy nodded. "Yeah, course."

"Missy, we'll get sucked out!"

"You and me together, off we go. Let's make jam!" she hit the final button, the airlock opening, and an alarm blared.

|C-S|

The Doctor followed Colony Sarff to Davros's room, surprised to find Adelaide already standing there, hands crossed in front of her. Of course.

"Doctor?" Davros said, his life support only raising as the Time Lord entered. "Doctor."

"Davros."

"I approve of your new face, Doctor. So much more like mine. Colony Sarff, untie our guest's hands." Colony Sarff glided behind the Doctor, taking the snake binding him with him. "You may leave us." Colony Sarff obeyed. "You came, then."

The Doctor nodded. "Clearly."

"Did you suspect a trap?"

"I still do."

"Then why are you here?" Davros almost seemed to smirk. "Did you miss our conversations?" he leaned to the side and threw a switch, starting a series of clips from the Doctor and Davros's previous conversation, only one of which had Adelaide been present for...though it had been as Caroline.

"If you had created a virus in your laboratory..."

"I'm not here as your prisoner, Davros..."

"Unimaginable power! Unlimited rice pudding!"

"Everything we saw," the one Adelaide knew, "everything we lost."

"But did you bother to tell anyone they might be eating their own relatives?"

The Doctor nodded. He was refusing to stand close to Adelaide as much as he could. "Yes, yes, yes, okay, you've made your point."

"Have I?"

"If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?"

Adelaide soniced the screen, cutting off the recording. "We understand."

Davros nodded. "Do you know why you came, Doctor?" he looked to the Time Lord. "You have a sense of duty. Of guilt, perhaps. And certainly of shame."

"You flatter me."

"Pity. I intended to accuse. I believe that for the ultimate good of the universe, I was right to create the Daleks."

The Doctor shook his head. "You were very wrong."

"This is the argument we've had since we met."

"It ended in the Time War."

"It survived the Time War," Davros corrected. "But it will end tonight. This is why you are here." They all looked up as an alarm sounded. "It seems your friends have gone exploring."

|C-S|

Missy, perfectly safe with Clara before an open airlock, put her arm into what appeared to be space outside. "It's warm, isn't it?" she paused, wiggling her hand. "For deep space, anyway."

Clara frowned at her. "What are you doing?"

"Treading softly." Carefully, Missy stepped outside...and stood on something invisible.

"What, there's a floor?"

"No. No, there's ground. This is the ground." Clara followed Missy outside, the Time Lady starting to do a little dance to test the ground. "We're on a planet. And this is not a space station. That is a building." She pointed where they'd come from. "And the rest of the planet, the whole thing, is invisible."

Clara laughed, doing a little twirl of her own. "That's ridiculous."

"Well, yes, of course it is. I mean, how would you ever find your glasses? Or the little girl's room? And what if you kissed an ugly?" she paused. "I wonder if our Aligned friends ever worry about that." She continued moving forward. "Unless, when you're part of the atmosphere, you start syncing with the spectrum..."

Clara frowned, following her. "Why would anybody hide a whole planet?"

"That would rather depend on the planet, dear." It appeared as though Missy had been correct as, the longer the pair were outside, the more the rest of the planet appeared to come into focus. But the sight of it, the revelation of exactly which planet they were on, made Missy's eyes widen. "No..."

|C-S|

Adelaide nodded at the window. "You should probably see this, Doctor."

The Time Lord turned, following her gaze, to see a planet that honestly meant quite a bit more to him than it did to Adelaide. "No! Skaro! You've brought us to Skaro."

Davros nodded. "Where does an old man go to die, but with his children?"

"Clara..." the Doctor turned, running to the door.

"You can't do anything, Doctor," Adelaide told him, pulling him back. "It's too late."

|C-S|

Clara and Missy, captured by a Dalek, were brought together into what seemed to either be the main gathering place of the Daleks where they got together and played Squash – which Missy liked the idea of – or some sort of control room.

And, to the side, was the TARDIS. "The TARDIS," Clara breathed. "How did she get here?"

"It has been procured." The Dalek Supreme called. "As has the Protector."

"Yeah?" Clara nodded, attempting to fake some confidence. "Yeah, well, if you're trying to get inside, you can't. Nothing can enter the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS will not be entered. The TARDIS will be destroyed."

She actually laughed. "Yeah, well, good luck, because she's indestructible."

Missy glanced at her. "Did the Doctor tell you that? Because you should never believe a man about a vehicle."

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide could see Missy and Clara on Davros's screen surrounded by Daleks. "What are they going to do?" the Doctor looked to Davros. "Tell us, what?"

"Who can say? You know what children are like."

"Daleks!" Missy shouted, summoning the attention of the Daleks. "Pay attention!"

"Don't," the Doctor breathed, shaking his head. "Just don't."

|C-S|

Missy moved forward. "You know what this is? This thing you're about to destroy?" she gestured back at the TARDIS. "I'll tell you! It's the dog's unmentionables. And you know all about those, don't you?" she tickled a nearby Dalek's ball. "This is a TARDIS. With this, you can go anywhere, do anything, kill anyone. With this, the Daleks can be more powerful than ever before." She climbed onto a ledge opposite where the TARDIS was parked, all the Daleks turning to look at her. Clara attempted to move closer to the door. "You just need one thing." She raised a hand. "Me. You need me. A Time Lady, to show you how it works. With this and with me, everything can be yours. And you can burn it all, forever and ever and ever." A long pause, where Missy just looked between all of the Daleks. "Or would you rather just kill me?"

All of the Daleks turned to look at the Dalek Supreme. "Maximum extermination."

"Exterminate," the Daleks said in unison, looking back to Missy and firing at her.

|C-S|

The Doctor spun to Davros, desperate. "Please! Please, I'm begging you. Please, please. Please, save Clara."

Davros shook his head. "I gave the Daleks life. I do not control them."

In the control room, all of the Daleks had turned to Clara. "Oh, Clara," the Doctor breathed, coming to stand beside Adelaide, not even caring that Davros could still see as he grabbed her hand and held tight. "Oh, Clara..."

"See how they play with her," Davros continued. "See how they toy. They want her to run. They need her to run. Do you feel their need, Doctor? Their blood is screaming to kill, kill, kill! Hunter and prey, held in the ecstasy of crisis. Is this not life at its purest, Adelaide?"

Clara ran for the door behind her, but the Daleks exterminated her. The Time Lords could still hear her scream as they turned to look at Davros again. "Why have I ever let you live?" he sneered.

"Compassion, Doctor," Davros reminded him. "It has always been your greatest indulgence. Let this be my final victory. Let me hear you say it, just once. Compassion is wrong."

Adelaide very much did not want to be there.

 **A/N: Hm...what an interesting quandary for Davros to pose, especially considering Adelaide's relationship to the Master...**


	3. Can't

**Can't**

When Clara woke, the fact that she was both still alive and hanging upside down was far less surprising facts than she knew they would be for someone else. Instead, the thing that was most surprising about her current situation was that Missy was sitting nearby sharpening a stick...with a knife.

"Consider the Doctor," Missy said, focusing on her stick. "The Doctor, trapped. The Doctor, without Adelaide." She glanced up at Clara. "You alright there, dear?"

"Where are we?" Clara asked. "How did we..."

"Shh, now, mummy's talking. Hasn't Adelaide taught you any sort of manners?" Back to the stick. "Okay, I'm going to tell you a story of the Doctor. It's classic. On the run, no TARDIS. No friends, no help, even no Adelaide. In other words, the Doctor, happy."

"How can he be..."

"Shh!" Missy glared at her. "It was a long time ago. Doesn't matter which face he was wearing, they're all the Doctor to me. So let's give it to the eyebrows."

"But the Daleks..."

Missy nodded. "Yes, I'm coming to that."

"Shouldn't we be...um...I don't want to say dead."

"Hush! He's traveling by teleporter. Unfortunately, his teleporter is out of power. Also unfortunate, he's being stalked by, oh, say about fifty android assassins? I may be rounding up." She checked her stick against her fingertip. "Ow. Fifty invisible, indestructible android assassins, all exclusively programmed to kill him. Probably annoyed someone, since Adelaide wasn't there to temper the situation."

"Why are you sharpening that stick?"

"Well, I've no idea how long we're going to be stuck out here. Might have to go hunting."

"So why am I tied up?"

"In case there's nothing to hunt." With a small grin, she stood. "The Doctor, then. Surrounded. Outnumbered. Outgunned. And freeze. Nanoseconds to live. Four, I'd say, being generous. Now, my question is this. How did he survive?" Missy prodded Clara with the stick. "Oh, come on, Clara! You know him, you've been traveling with Adelaide for years. Consider the Doctor."

Clara thought for a moment. "Where did he get that teleport thingy?"

"Oh, good, good." Missy nodded. "He stole one from an android."

"So, I'm guessing he uses the same energy as the android weapons, right?"

Missy grinned. "Excellent! Not seeing you as sandwiches now."

"Okay, then." Clara nodded. "He uses the energy wave from the android weapons to recharge the teleport bracelet and at the exact moment he's supposed to disintegrate...he actually teleports." She blinked. "Hang on, that's how you did it. That's how we escaped the Daleks."

"I modified the same principle for our vortex manipulators, yes. Blew them off, I'm afraid. But the Doctor...he...he improves it. He must have gone through several thousand calculations in the time it takes to fire up a disintegrator. Seriously, what a swot!"

"So the androids think he's dead and the Doctor escapes."

Missy sighed. "No, he's the Doctor. He fell into a nest of vampire monkeys. But that's another story!" Using her knife, she cut Clara down, making the human scream as she fell. "Why does the Doctor always survive?"

"Because he's clever."

"We both know he's not the clever one, but still, there's lots of clever dead people. I love killing clever clogs, they make the best faces."

Clara blinked, standing. "Because he always assumes he's going to win. He always knows there's a way to survive. He just has to go and find it."

"Yes, except this time, he made a will and threw himself a goodbye party. He was willing to abandon Adelaide in the height of their lovey-doveyness. Now, if the Doctor assumes he's going to die, what happens then?"

Clara nodded. "We do."

"He's trapped at the heart of the Dalek empire. He's a prisoner of the creatures who hate him most in the universe and Adelaide may or may not be beside him. Between us and him is everything the deadliest race in all of history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick." Missy held it up. "How do we start?"

"We assume we're going to win."

Missy sighed. "Oh. Pity, really. I was actually quite peckish." She turned and started to walk off across the desert surface of the planet.

Clara jogged after her to keep up. "Can I have a stick too?"

"Make your own stick."

"I'm telling Adelaide you're not sharing."

Missy stuck her tongue out at Clara.

They didn't get much further before Clara glanced at Missy again. "Can I ask you something?"

"No."

"What did you mean when you said that she doesn't always agree?"

"Did you not also hear me when I said spoiler?" Missy spun the stick. "Have our Aligned friends ever actually explained what Aligning means?" Clara shook her head. "Don't be fooled by the Doctor thinking it means that they're destined to be together forever, dear. All Aligning means is that they had fixed events between them. Moments in time where they had to interact. For these two, it has so far taken the form of love, but there is no guarantee that it shall continue in that manner."

"But the Doctor thinks it does?"

"And Adelaide doesn't." Missy poked Clara's arm. "I was the one who first let them know that they were probably Aligned, you know. They have me to thank for all of this."

"But they love each other..."

"They're Time Lords, dear. 'Love' is far too simple."

|C-S|

The Doctor rushed around Davros's room, attempting to find something he needed, as Davros spoke. "It took me so very long to realize it was you, standing at the gates of my beginning. And here you are at the end." He looked to Adelaide. "But this time, I have you at my mercy." The Doctor paused behind Davros, pointing a Dalek gun at him. "Exterminate." He took it away. "Ancient. Inoperable."

As the Doctor tended to do, he proved him wrong. The gun powered on. "Genius."

"Doctor..." Adelaide said quietly, shooting him a look.

"You would threaten a dying man?" Davros almost seemed to be agreeing with her. "Have I not suffered enough?"

"Get out."

"Doctor!"

"I cannot leave this chamber. It sustains me."

"Get out!"

|C-S|

The Doctor hadn't listened to Adelaide. Honestly, at that moment, she would have been shocked if he had. But while the Doctor rode Davros's chair into the room they'd seen Clara 'die' in, Adelaide stayed in Davros's. After all, the chair had only really been large enough to fit one and the Doctor was the Predator.

The Oncoming Storm, the Beast, the Valeyard. The one who stood against the Daleks.

And her? His Protector, the Protector, the Scientist, the Betrayer. The one who was meant to stop him. The only one who could.

The only other Time Lord Victorious.

After all, despite Missy's survival, she did not share their rank as the last two. The Doctor and Missy may have faced each other throughout the centuries, but they'd never faced each other in the way Adelaide and the Doctor had, actually the final two left to battle over time.

They were a trio of sorts. The Master was one side of the Doctor: the meddler, the one who took control. The one who wanted to bend the universe to his will, though the two had distinctly different motives. And Adelaide was the other: the observer, the one who ran away. The one who just wanted to see every star out there, for distinctly different reasons.

The Master wanted to rule. Adelaide wanted to watch. And the Doctor...he wanted to interfere. He wanted to do both.

Opposites attracted. Perhaps that was why Adelaide had fallen in love with the Doctor...despite his addiction to interfering.

She didn't pay much attention to the various alarms and shouts of worried Daleks as they all registered what they believed to be Davros leaving his infirmary. She just stood at the window and looked out at Skaro. Adelaide had never actually been here before.

The Doctor had gone to Skaro and used it to know that he wasn't the Daleks. That he wasn't all that hate and destruction and death.

Adelaide hadn't needed Skaro to tell her that. But part of her wondered if that would have made all of this much easier. If it would have given her a definitive concept to compare herself to.

Of course, if she were being honest, she did have a definitive concept. She had the Cybermen. She had a species that had removed all emotion and simply become creatures of logic – while the Daleks were similar, they'd replaced all emotion with hate, not removed them all. She had a species that was the extreme of what she could become. The example of who, sometimes, she really wanted to be.

Sometimes, Adelaide wanted to be Miss Clever.

The only time Adelaide actively turned around was when Davros summoned Colony Sarff, the Time Lady holding up her hands to show that she was, clearly, no threat.

She was here as an observer, as she had never been one who truly faced the Daleks, not like the Doctor. They had a far more neutral opinion of her.

|C-S|

In the control room of the Daleks, the Doctor rode in on Davros's chair. "Admit it," he said, looking out at all the gathered Daleks. "You've all had this exact nightmare. So, anyone for dodgems?"

"Exterminate!" the Dalek Supreme called.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" they all fired at the Doctor but, since he was in their creator's chair...nothing happened.

In fact, once the bright light faded from all the shots, the Doctor actually had a cup of tea, taking a sip. "Of course, the real question is: where did I get the cup of tea? Answer...I'm the Doctor. Just accept it."

"You are unharmed."

"Proposition." Normally, Adelaide was the one in charge of theories, but considering she hadn't actually complained that much when he'd stolen Davros's chair, he had the sense that she'd already gone through this thought process as well. "Davros is an insane, paranoid genius who has survived among several billion trigger-happy mini-tanks for centuries. Conclusion? I'm definitely having his chair."

"You cannot escape, Doctor."

He just held up the Dalek weapon again. "I'm guessing his personal force field only works in one direction."

"The Doctor does not use weapons."

He raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't he? Ah, listen to your little hearts beat! Ask me what I want."

"Irrelevant. You will not prevail. You will not succeed."

"I've been at the heart of your empire for forty-two minutes, and I own it, and I haven't even got out of my chair." He gestured at it. "Ask me what I want."

"What do you want?"

"Clara Oswald." He hit a switch on the chair, broadcasting across the planet. "I want Clara Oswald safe, alive, and returned to me immediately. You bring her back. You do that. You do that now. Unharmed. Unhurt. Alive."

"Your associate..."

"I saw what happened," the Doctor interrupted. "I was there. And I'm hoping, for all of our sakes, that it was a trick."

"It was not a deception."

"Because if Clara Oswald is really dead, then you'd better be very, very careful how you tell me." He glared around at them. "Who's going to tell me? Who's going to go first? All the power Davros had is mine. Everything he had, I have. Who's going to tell me that Clara Oswald is really dead?"

"Clara Oswald is not alive," the Dalek Supreme said.

The screen on the chair flickered on, letting the Doctor see Davros...and Adelaide behind him. "Doctor, this urge for conquest. It is gratifying to see you learn."

"Davros. You're up. Sorry, this seat's taken."

It wasn't Davros who nodded, but Adelaide. "Yes, Doctor, but not by you."

Snakes, members of Colony Sarff, surged up from the chair, covering the Doctor completely. "You've met my Head of Personal Security, I think," Davros continued. "Colony Sarff. His agents are everywhere."

|C-S|

When the Doctor woke, he did so with a start, gaze quickly landing on where Davros, back in his chair, was looking out the window...and Adelaide standing next to him. The Time Lady had been quiet through this encounter, though that wasn't that surprising with Adelaide. Especially when facing the Daleks, one of the species that he knew she'd questioned the most.

Once, she'd believed in them, but the Time Lords had tried to show her how destructive they could be. Part of her innate desire to prove the other Time Lords wrong meant that she couldn't help but be curious.

And she was just a naturally curious person.

"I hope you are grateful," Davros said, turning. "It wasn't easy to procure. And very nearly unique, of course. You should feel privileged. The only other chair on Skaro." The Doctor looked down as he finally seemed to realize that's what he was sitting on. "Don't get up."

The Doctor stood. "You neither." He moved to the door.

"The chamber is sealed," Adelaide called, making him stop.

"Besides, I believe you are not carrying your sonic device."

The Doctor shrugged. "I gave it up. Bad memories. But she still has one."

"The chamber is deadlocked, Doctor."

He turned, walking back around to face Davros. "I am dying, Doctor," Davros said.

"You keep saying that, you keep not dying. Can you give it some welly? Come on."

"And it is time for us to conclude our business together."

He shook his head. "We have no business."

"We have nothing but. Look at the cables, Doctor. Understand what they are. What they can do. Just step a little closer."

The Doctor turned, observing the wires gathered around the center of the room, before looking to Davros again. "They don't have much respect for you, do they? Your kids. Have you seen the state of this place?" he gestured around. "I'm surprised Adelaide can handle it. I mean, this is exactly where you dump a smelly old uncle slash family pet slash genius scientist who couldn't even invent legs. Seriously, how do your boys take it when everybody else has got two eyes?"

"You know what it is, yes?" Adelaide asked, making the Doctor glance at her before looking back to the wires.

"Oh, yes. It's a hyperspace relay, with some kind of genetic component."

She nodded. "Davros is connected to the life force of every Dalek on the planet. It has kept him alive; as their hearts beat, so does his." He looked at her. "He explained while you were unconscious."

"Ooo, nice," the Doctor nodded. "Vampiring off your own creations, just to eke out your days. I'm surprised the Daleks allow it."

"Oh, they have no choice. My Daleks are afflicted with a genetic defect."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What defect?"

"Respect. Mercy for their father. Design flaws I was unable to eliminate." Davros nodded. "And now he sees it. Now he understands. The cables, Doctor. Touch them. Imagine, to hold in your hand the heartbeat of every Dalek on Skaro. They send me life. Is it beyond the wit of a Time Lord to send them death? A little work and it could be done."

He tore his attention away from the cables. "Er...why would you be telling me this?"

"Genocide in a moment. Such slaughter, not in self-defense. Not as a simple act of war. Genocide as a choice. Are you ready, Doctor? So many backs with a single knife." The Doctor started to back away, but Davros took his hand and guided him forward again. "Are you ready to be a god? The Protector already refused, but what more can we expect from the Betrayer?" The Doctor reached forward, but he didn't touch the cable, not yet. "Why do you hesitate? No one would know. Clara Oswald is dead. Is this the conscience of the Doctor, or his shame? The shame that brought you here. What do you believe, Protector, Time Lady free of compassion and shame?"

The Doctor's expression hardened. "There's no such thing as the Doctor," he corrected. "I'm just a bloke in a box, telling stories. And I didn't come here because I'm ashamed. A bit of shame never hurt anyone." He stepped closer. "I came because you're sick and you asked. And because sometimes, on a good day, if I try very hard, I'm not some old Time Lord who ran away. I'm the Doctor." He glanced at Adelaide, and the Time Lady couldn't help but smile.

This. This was the opposite of her. This was the thing that pulled the two of them together across the universe, the thing that set them both against each other and together.

"Compassion then."

He nodded. "Always."

"It grows strong and fierce in you, like a cancer."

The Doctor grinned. "I hope so."

"It will kill you in the end."

It had already killed Adelaide multiple times over.

"I wouldn't die of anything else."

"You may rely on it."

The Doctor chuckled.

 **A/N: Hmm...seems Adelaide finally had a chance to determine _who_ she was.**


	4. Can

**Can**

In the sewers of Skaro, filled with the decaying remains of Daleks genetically hardwired to continue living, Missy attached the electrodes of a recently killed Dalek to Clara's head as the human sat inside. "How am I supposed to make it go?" Clara asked her. "Are there pedals?"

"Telepathic control. Open wide." Clara obeyed, opening her mouth. "I meant your skull. Never mind." She gave a final push and stepped back, making Clara wince from the sharp pain. "Shh, shh, now, don't worry."

"Ow."

"There's loads of nano-tech repairing any damage as the feed goes in."

"What about when it comes out?"

Missy shrugged. "No idea. Nobody knows, not even Adelaide." She stepped back. "Anyway, to control the unit, you just have to think. Novel idea for you, but let's try it. Move forwards."

"I don't know how to..." but as Clara said it, the Dalek casing moved forward anyway.

"You see?"

"Oh! How did I do that?"

"Circle right," Missy ordered.

"I can't..." but she did so.

"Circle left." Again. "There you go. Alright, this won't hurt a bit." Missy reached forward and tapped something on the casing, making it begin to close around Clara.

"Hang on," Clara cried, starting to panic. "No, Missy. No, no, no, no! No, Missy...Missy, no, no, no, please don't! Don't, don't! Please!"

With a clang, the casing sealed. Missy leaned forward. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, I think," Clara replied, speaking through the Dalek. "Okay. That's a bit weird."

Missy nodded. "Just a bit. Okay, alright. Shh...say your name."

"Why?"

"Just..." Missy was grinning. "Just say...just say it."

"Dalek."

Her grin just continued growing. "Say it again."

"Dalek. Dalek."

"One more time."

"I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek!"

Missy laughed but she did sober slightly when Clara accidentally started firing the weapon. "Whoa! Just don't get emotional," she warned. "Emotion fires the gun. Okay?"

"I do not understand."

"Say, 'I love you'. Those exact words. Don't ask me why, just say it."

"Exterminate."

She laughed again. "Say, 'you are different from me'."

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Say, 'ex-ter-min-ate!'"

"Exterminate!" Clara started to spin in the Dalek again, Missy laughing and dodging the weapon. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Cybermen suppress emotion: Adelaide," Missy said as Clara paused. "Daleks channel it through a gun: the Doctor. That's why they keep yelling exterminate. It's how they reload. So, let's go and kill them." She gestured for Clara to follow her. "Come on."

|C-S|

"There is a question, Doctor," Davros called. "One I have longed to ask."

"Yeah, well, if you're going to put your hand on my knee, it isn't going to go well. And not just because Adelaide's still here."

"Why did you leave Gallifrey."

Both Time Lords stilled, pausing in their mutual manners. "Well, because I did."

"You stole the TARDIS, and ran and ran. Why?"

He shrugged. "It's a boring place, Gallifrey. I was going out of my mind." He avoided looking at Adelaide.

"Yet you long to return."

"Ah, well, I'm inconsistent."

"But it is always the same lie."

The Doctor looked to him. "What lie?"

"You weren't bored. No one runs the way you have run for so small a reason."

"I do."

"No, you don't." Davros looked to the side. "Colony Sarff confiscated these items on your arrival." He moved to a table to the side. "A Time Lord confession dial, I believe. Your confession. Tell me. Send me to my grave with this precious knowledge. What is the Doctor's confession?" he reached towards it, but both Time Lords surged forward.

"Stop," Adelaide said, the Doctor saying "don't you dare!" at the same time.

Davros looked at them both. "Is it possible I have touched a nerve?"

"Some things matter to me, Davros. Not many, but a few. And don't you put your fingers anywhere near them again." He took his sunglasses from the box. "And they'd better not be scratched. These are my best ones. Adelaide loves them."

Davros shook his head. "Still you play the fool."

The Doctor put the shades on. "Well, by now that should make you nervous. She's the clever, I'm the fool. It's how we dance." He moved towards a screen to the side, looking at himself. Studying the man he'd become.

"Make your confession, Doctor. Why did you really leave Gallifrey?"

Adelaide, instead, spoke. "How long have you two known each other?"

"Long enough," Davros told her. "Galaxies have burned."

"And only now do you think to ask him a personal question?"

"He has slaughtered billions of my children, as I have slaughtered billions of your race. We have exhausted the conventional means of communication."

The Doctor removed his glasses. "Our people are alive. They didn't die. We brought them back. I found a way."

"Is this true?"

The Doctor nodded. "Gallifrey is back in the sky. I don't know where, I may never know. But Gallifrey is back and it is safe from both of us."

After all, why include Adelaide in that statement, when she was a Time Lady who could exist with or without Gallifrey somewhere in the heavens? She was a Time Lady who didn't want to return to it even if she could.

"Doctor, my most sincere congratulations."

The Doctor turned at that statement, even Adelaide looking to Davros. "I'm sorry?"

"This is wonderful news. Beyond all hope. I congratulate you."

"Why are you saying that?"

"A man should have a race, a people, an allegiance. A man should belong, Doctor. Believe me, please. I am happy for you. So happy."

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't...I don't understand this. Why are you..."

Davros gestured him closer. "Come closer again. Let me see your face."

"You've seen it often enough."

"Let me see it with my own eyes." His singular blue eye went out, the Doctor moving forward as he opened his own eyes. "Closer, please." The Doctor was close now. "If you have redeemed the Time Lords from the fire, do not lose them again. Take the darkest path into the deepest hell, but protect your own as I have sought to protect mine." He glanced towards Adelaide before fixing his attention back on the last Time Lord. "Did I do right, Doctor? Tell me." He put his hand on the Doctor's. "Was I right? I need to know before the end. Am I a good man?"

The Doctor was quiet for some time. "You really are dying, aren't you?"

"Look at me. Did you doubt it?"

"Yes."

"Then we have established one thing only."

"What?"

"You are not a good doctor." Both men chuckled, though Davros's quickly shifted into a struggle for breath. He looked towards the window. "Pity. I had hoped to see the sun one last time with the eyes of my true self."

Compassion. The one thing the Doctor relied on that Adelaide had yet to bring herself to do the same.

Davros moved towards the window, looking out at the planet beyond. "It is beautiful, my world, is it not?"

"How did you get it back?" The Doctor moved towards the cables, preparing to connect them to Davros. Adelaide just stepped back. She did that a lot. She was surprised how okay with it she was.

"The Daleks remade it. Like you, they have a strong concept of home."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, like you. Everything you are, they are."

"Like both of us, perhaps. How far we have come to go home again."

"I'm trying to pep this up, but you've been gone a long time. Every Dalek on Skaro isn't enough anymore."

"It is so good of you to help me."

The Doctor paused beside him. "I'm not helping you. I'm helping a little boy I abandoned on a battlefield. I think I owe him a sunrise." Adelaide stepped forward, watching as the sun just began to rise above the mountains. "Come on, chin up. Any minute now."

"I have always admired you, Doctor."

"Here it comes."

"I wish, just once, we had been on the same side."

The Doctor knelt beside him. "Look, the sun's coming up. We're on the same side now."

"I regret I cannot open my eyes." And Davros looked down, beginning to cry. The creator of the Daleks, the dark lord of Skaro...cried.

The Doctor didn't watch him for long before stepping back. "Okay, don't ever tell anyone that I did this." He moved his hand until the golden light of regeneration grew around it.

"Doctor, don't," Adelaide tried, but he didn't seem to be listening.

"A little bit of regeneration energy. Probably cost me an arm or a leg somewhere down the line. Or I'll just be really little."

"Doctor, no!"

He'd already stepped into the cables, taking one with his glowing hand. "Should be enough, just to..." he screamed as Colony Sarff's snakes bound him to the cables.

"No!" but Adelaide couldn't get too close, not as the regeneration energy started to grow around the Doctor. It was dangerous even for another Time Lord. She couldn't even touch the cables connecting the Doctor and Davros, now filled with regeneration energy.

"Hold him firm, Colony Sarff," Davros called. "He is precious to us now."

The Doctor was forced to his knees from the pain. "Davros, stop this," Adelaide tried.

"Regeneration energy," he continued. "The ancient magic of the Time Lords. I thought I would have to tear one of you apart to take it from you but, as always, your compassion is your downfall, Doctor." His voice grew stronger the more he spoke, the energy working to heal him.

"No!" the Doctor cried. "No! No, please! No!"

"You have opened your veins of your own free will, and all Daleks shall drink the blood of Gallifrey. They shall rise stronger than ever."

The Doctor screamed as Davros straightened in his chair, filled with strength again. Adelaide looked around desperately for anything she could use to free the Doctor, but there was nothing that would work as she would need.

"There was a prophecy, Doctor and Adelaide, on your own world."

"Please, Davros." Adelaide knew that she, of all people, shouldn't have been attempting to negotiate with anyone, let alone plead to the compassion of Davros, but she had to do something. "Stop this. There's another way, there must be."

"It spoke of a hybrid creature. Two great warrior races forced together to create a warrior greater than either. Is that what you ran from, Doctor? Your part in the coming of the hybrid? Half Dalek, half Time Lord?"

"Stop!" he screamed again, the pain growing.

Adelaide spun as someone shot open the door, impossibly thankful for Missy's arrival with a Dalek gun in hand. The Time Lady destroyed the cables and Colony Sarff, letting the Doctor collapse. She hurried to the Doctor's side, slapping him awake. "Morning."

The Doctor sat up. "Where's Clara?"

Missy groaned. "Oh, hello to you, too."

"You're alive, so she is too. Where is she?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Missy looked to Adelaide. "You really have taught him no manners."

"Oh, you are not fine," Davros called. "Thanks to you, Doctor, my creations shall grow to yet greater supremacy, and my own life is prolonged. This is the final defeat of the Time Lords. Have you nothing to say, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked to Adelaide. "Three." He took his confession dial back.

"Do you understand what has happened? Here my children sing.'

"Two."

Missy eyed him. "Oh, I know that face."

"All praise Davros, creator and savior of the Daleks!"

"One."

The city shook. Of course. Because, after all, the Doctor was still the Doctor, and the Doctor always had a plan. The Doctor always won.

"What is that?" Davros asked. "What's happening?"

"I knew exactly what you were doing, and I let you do it," a little lie, but Adelaide tolerated little lies, especially in circumstances like this. "You transmitted regeneration energy into every Dalek on this planet. Every single one."

"What have you done?"

He grinned. "One word...er, no, two words, actually. First word: moron." Missy sniggered. "Second word: sewers."

"No. This cannot be correct. How can this be?"

He spread his arms. "Generations of Daleks just woke up very cross, and they are coming up the pipes. Or to put it another way..." he waved, "bye!" The Doctor ran from the room.

"Pleasure speaking," Adelaide called, following him out.

"Can I just say, it's been an absolute pleasure to finally meet you?" Missy gave Davros a little curtsey and held out her hand...and then just poked him in his eye. He reeled from the pain and she followed the other two out. "Doctor!"

The city was falling apart around them, Adelaide pausing for a moment to touch the dying Dalek streaming through the cracks, forcing itself into the other Daleks to destroy them. She only kept moving when Missy, passing her, grabbed her hand and pulled.

The Doctor, ahead of them both, only stopped when he found a Dalek approaching from the side. "Doctor!"

He faced it. "This city is about to be sucked into the ground. Your own sewer is about to consume you. There's no way you can win, there is nothing you can do, so just tell me...where is Clara Oswald?"

"I am a Dalek."

He nodded. "Yes, you're a Dalek. Where is Clara?"

"I am a Dalek."

"Yes, I know that you're a Dalek. Where is Clara Oswald?"

The Dalek stopped in front of him. "I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek!"

Missy and Adelaide arrived, Missy immediately pointing the Dalek weapon she'd stolen at the Dalek. "Doctor, stop!" she stepped closer. "It's you, isn't it? I mean, no offense, you all look alike, but it is...it is you?"

"Affirmative."

"Clara's dead." Both Time Lords stiffened. "This is the one that killed her."

"Do not listen to her. I am a Dalek, I am a Dalek."

"I got her out of the city, but this one caught us and shot her down. There was nothing I could do, I'm afraid."

"I am a Dalek."

"She ran, she screamed. I'm so glad neither of you had to see that."

"I am a Dalek. I am a Dalek."

Missy laughed. "This one's a mad one, isn't it? I mean, it's almost like...like it's proud."

"I am a Dalek. I am a Dalek. I am a Dalek!"

Missy moved to stand behind the Doctor, placing the weapon in his hands, knowing that, out of him and Adelaide, he was the only one who would dare. "Kill it, Doctor. They're all going to die anyway. Indulged yourself. Go on, kill the Dalek."

"Do not kill me! Do not kill me!"

The Doctor raised the weapon. "Is Clara dead?"

"I am a Dalek. I am alive. I am your enemy. Your enemy." Adelaide frowned at it. "Mercy. Mercy."

The Doctor stilled as well. "You shouldn't be able to say that."

"Mercy."

"That word shouldn't exist in your vocabulary. How did Davros teach you to say that?"

"Mercy."

"Why aren't you trying to kill me?"

"Mercy. I show mercy."

The Doctor lowered the weapon, Adelaide moving to stand beside him as Missy backed away. "I'm putting the gun down. Open your casing."

"How?"

"Think the word 'open'," Adelaide provided. "It should work."

The Dalek obeyed and the casing opened, revealing a living – if a bit traumatized – Clara.

"Oh, look at that," Missy said, putting her hands on her hips. "Now, there's a surprise."

"Missy, run," the Doctor sneered.

"Oh, Doctor..." Clara was close to tears. He moved toward, carefully disconnecting Clara from the casing.

"In a way, this is why I gave her to you two in the first place. To make you see. The friend inside the enemy, the enemy inside the friend." Missy gestured between all three of them.

"I'm sorry, Clara. I'm so sorry!"

"Everyone's a bit of both. Everyone's a hybrid."

The Doctor didn't look at her, focusing on his human companion. "I said run."

"It wasn't me who ran, Doctor," Missy reminded him. "That was always you." She looked to Adelaide. "Both of you." She walked away casually as Clara finally stepped free of the casing, Adelaide taking her shoulder.

|C-S|

The trio ran back to where Clara remembered seeing the TARDIS last just as a bit of ceiling collapsed in. "Where was the TARDIS? It was over there somewhere, wasn't it?"

"What is happening?" the Dalek Supreme asked, sounding panicked. "Explain! Explain!"

"Dalek Supreme, your sewers are revolting." The Doctor grinned at himself for that before following Clara to where the TARDIS, apparently destroyed, had once been.

"You will assist, or you will be exterminated."

"Oh, well, go on, then. Exterminate away."

Clara's eyes widened. "Doctor!"

The Daleks obeyed him, though, as expected, the trio were kept perfectly safe by the force field. "TARDIS force field is still present," Adelaide told them. "We get in, you can't."

"The TARDIS has been destroyed.'

"Ah, don't be silly," the Doctor waved a hand, "of course it hasn't. It just redistributed itself for a moment. Hostile Action Dispersal System. I'll just give it a quick blast from my sonic, and the real-time envelope will reassemble right here."

"Doctor, you don't have your screwdriver."

"Well, Adelaide has her sonic, but she never really linked it to my box. Besides, I'm over screwdrivers. They spoil the line of your jacket. These days, I'm all about wearable technology." He put on the glasses again.

Clara's eyes widened. "No! No? Seriously?"

The Doctor just touched the side of the glasses. "What is happening?" Dalek Supreme cried.

"Oh, same old, same old. Just the Doctor, Adelaide, and Clara Oswald in the TARDIS." The ship reformed around them, quite to the annoyance of the still dying Daleks.

|C-S|

They brought the TARDIS to the desert of the planet, watching as the city disintegrated before them. "No chance you're going to tell me what's in that confession dial, I suppose?" Clara asked, glancing at it. He just put it back in his pocket, taking Adelaide's hand. "Hmm."

"It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?"

"When you were in the Dalek, you made it say mercy. It shouldn't have understood the concept, it shouldn't have been able to say it. How did a tiny piece of mercy get into the DNA of the Daleks?"

As an answer, Adelaide squeezed the Doctor's hand. His eyes widened and, without another word, ran back to the TARDIS. Clara turned to call after him, but Adelaide took her shoulder. "If there is one thing we both know about the Doctor, is that he always interferes when a child is crying."

|C-S|

Back on the battlefield of Skaro, where a choice is made, where the fate of the universe is decided, a boy cried out for help, clinging to a sonic screwdriver. "Help me! You can't leave me, you promised. You said I had a chance." There was a sound behind him and he turned, seeing the man again. "Who are you? I don't get it. How did you get there?"

"From the future."

"Are you going to save me?"

"I'm going to save my friend the only way I can." He raised the Dalek gun that he still held. "Exterminate!" He destroyed the mines around the boy, rescuing him, and gestured to him. "Come on, I'll take you home."

The boy looked at him warily. "Which side are you on? Are you the enemy?"

"I'm not sure that any of that matters. Friends, enemies. So long as there's mercy. Always mercy." The Doctor held out a hand to the boy who would later create the creature who would a creature completely fueled by hate, a creature who only wanted to destroy.

A creature who now, because the Doctor was not a man who could kill a child despite who he would grow to become, knew the meaning of mercy.

 **A/N: I always forget how sweetly this episode ends :)**


	5. Before the Dawn

**Before the Dawn**

The first thing both Time Lords noticed upon landing was that the TARDIS wasn't happy.

Well, it was really the Doctor who noticed it, frowning at the outside of the ship. "What's wrong? You're not happy? Why aren't you happy? Tell me."

"Come on!" Clara called. "We're on a roll!" she opened the TARDIS door, hanging out to look at the pair of them. "Monsters, blowing things up. Oh, hey, can we go back to that place where the people with the long necks have been celebrating New Year for two centuries? I left my sunglasses there. And most of my dignity." She moved to return to the console, but neither Time Lord followed.

"Why have you brought us here?"

Sighing, Clara joined them outside, closing the TARDIS door. "Here being?"

"Underwater," Adelaide provided. "A sort of base. Technology appears twenty-second century. Perhaps military, perhaps scientific."

"Is there a crew?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Must be, somewhere, if there's oxygen."

They started down the corridor together, a Time Lord on either side of Clara. "I want another adventure," the human said, glancing at the Doctor, for she knew that he agreed more than Adelaide. "Come on, you feel the same. You're itching to save a planet, I know it."

The Doctor did smile at that comment as Clara moved into more of a leading capacity, walking in front of them both. Far more than Adelaide – far more than was probably healthy – the Doctor did love to do that. Adelaide loved the adventuring, the thrill of soaring about the universe, but he knew for a fact that saving planets had never been something she'd enjoyed.

Sure, she'd done it accidentally enough over the years to make her the asset she was to the Time Lords during the Time War, but it had never been her goal. Always accidental.

But that's what made him love her. And he knew that his own partial savior complex was what made her love him. Opposites attracted, and all that.

They very quickly found what appeared to be a mess hall...a mess hall in a state that had Adelaide, despite herself, wincing.

The Time Lady did prefer everything to be neat, orderly, and polite, as much as she hated cleaning.

"Look at this," Clara said, looking around at the mess.

"Well," he said. "Looks like you got your wish."

"Food fight?" Clara tapped a knife that had been stuck into the wall.

"More than that," Adelaide reasoned. "Fairly recently." She touched a mug full of liquid. "Seven or eight hours, I'd guess. But no bodies."

"And they took provisions," Clara said, looking in a cabinet. "Okay, so something or someone forced the crew to abandon the base. Maybe they went for a swim in the creepy flooded village outside." They all paused at the large window. "Oh, yeah. You see, this is more like it." Clara held up a hand for a high-five, but neither Time Lord returned it. "Oh, come on. Don't leave me hanging."

The Time Lords just left the room, Clara following a few moments later. "Look," the Doctor said, nodding down the corridor to where two figures were squat at the end of the corridor, their backs to the trio. "Told you. Crew. Hello, sailors!" but when the figures stood, it was immediately clear that something wasn't right about either of them – and not just because one was human and one was Tivoli. They looked, for lack of a better term, like eye-less ghosts. "Right. I did not expect that. Hands up who expected that." The figures began to walk closer. "Wait, wait," he said, stopping Clara from running. "I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious."

The figures stopped close to both of them, one staring directly at the Doctor and the other looking down at Clara. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I mean, define sure. Look at you lovely chaps. What's happened to you, then?" Instead of answering, the figures turned away. "Come on." They followed the figures through the corridors.

"What are they?" Clara hissed, more to Adelaide than the Doctor.

"Haven't an idea," she whispered. "Curious."

"Mysterious?" the Doctor whispered, making Adelaide smile despite herself.

They followed the figures to what appeared to be a large hanger, unable to find them again. "Where did they go?" Clara asked, the three of them moving towards the strange ship in the center of the room. "What is it, some kind of submarine?"

"No, it's alien." They entered the ship, the Doctor running his hand over the table sort of thing in the center. He focused on a strange series of symbols carved into the wall. He pointed at them, making Clara turn and shine her light onto them. "That's weird. The TARDIS hasn't translated it."

There was a hissing sound to the side and Clara turned, spotting the figures again. "Hey, look, they're back," she whispered.

"Hello!" the Doctor moved to the front of the ship. "Did you want to show us this? It's very nice."

Adelaide studied the figures. "They're saying something."

One of the figures turned and took an ax from the wall, but it appeared to be too heavy for him. "Okay, they now appear to be arming themselves."

"Yes, we spotted that, too," the Doctor said. The three left the ship slowly as the other figure took a harpoon gun from the wall. "Was it something she said? She does that. She once had an argument with Gandhi!"

The figure with the ax swung at them, missing. "I'm starting to see why the crew did a runner." They fired the harpoon gun, hitting the wall. The trio paused against the wall outside the room, taking the moment to breathe, when suddenly the figures walked through the wall, making them run.

At the end of the corridor, a door opened. "In here!" a woman inside gestured them in. "Quick!"

What seemed to be the rest of the crew was hiding in the Faraday cage. Clara rushed to join them in the back of the room, but the Time Lords paused by the door, looking out at the figures who seemed unable to enter the room. "What are you?" the Doctor breathed.

But then the figures left.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" a man asked, making the Time Lords turn.

"This is Clara, she's Adelaide, and I'm the Doctor." He showed them his psychic paper.

"You're from UNIT."

The Doctor nodded. "Well, if that's what it says."

"I'm Pritchard, this is Bennett."

One of the women moved forward, taking the Doctor's hand. "O'Donnell! Are you really the Doctor? I'm a huge fan!" Her excitement stilled, glancing to the side. "I mean...er...you know...nice work."

"Tim Lunn, I sign for Cass."

"Tell us, what about those things out there? What are they? Why are they trying to kill us?"

Bennett frowned. "Well, they're...er...they're ghosts."

The Doctor shook his head. "They're not ghosts."

"They could be ghosts," Adelaide reminded him.

Lunn looked to Cass. "Cass is saying..."

"Thank you, but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign." Clara and Adelaide glanced at each other for that as the Doctor moved forward, signing 'go ahead'. Cass, looking slightly shocked, started to sign her reply. "No, no, actually, I can't." Adelaide sighed. "It's been deleted for semaphore. Someone get me a selection of flags."

"One of the ghosts is our previous commanding officer," Cass said, Lunn translating for everyone else. "The other...um...moley guy, we don't know what he is."

"He's Tivolian," Adelaide said.

Bennett nodded. "See? I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?"

"Weird thing is, they're not violent," the Doctor continued. "They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say 'boo' to a goose. They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details. When did they first appear?"

"Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar?" O'Donnell asked. "Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got..." she paused. "Moran was killed."

"Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us," Cass said. "So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realized the ghosts couldn't come in here."

Clara looked around. "What is this place?"

"A Faraday cage," Adelaide told her. "Impenetrable to radio waves and, apparently, those ghosts."

The Doctor looked around the crew. "So, who's in charge now? I need to know who to ignore and Adelaide needs to know who to apologize to for that."

"That would be me."

"Her," Lunn clarified, nodding at Cass.

"Actually," Pritchard stepped forward, "that would be me." He gave the Doctor his card. "I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil."

"The oil? Where are we?" the Doctor tossed the card to the floor, Pritchard bending to pick it up again.

"This used to be a military training site," Bennett explained. "There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged."

"Then twenty years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it."

"Good morning," the computer announced, all of the lights brightening. "Entering day mode."

"Okay, it's morning. We can go outside now."

"Thank God for that," Lunn sighed.

"At last, we can get out of here."

"Morning?"

Bennett took a towel from the wall next to him. "Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight, so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights." O'Donnell opened the door for them all.

"I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship," the Doctor said, "but what about those things that aren't ghosts?"

"But might be ghosts," Adelaide said.

O'Donnell smiled at them. "Oh, it's alright. They only come out at night."

Clara shivered. "Weird how that is not comforting."

|C-S|

They all returned to the hanger, the Doctor and Adelaide leading the charge. "If whatever they are..."

"Possibly ghosts."

"They're not ghosts."

"Eliminate the impossible and, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." The Doctor glanced at her. "And ghosts aren't impossible, not technically." He looked almost like he was going to continue to debate the topic, but Adelaide just turned to the crew. "If they've been attempting to kill you, why exactly haven't you abandoned the base?"

"That was my call," Pritchard said. "We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it." He looked, seeing the Doctor's expression. "What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus."

"It's okay. I understand." The Doctor nodded. "You're an idiot." He flashed Adelaide a grin. "Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?"

"It's the mining equipment," Bennett explained. "It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak."

"So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor. Anything else we should know? Someone got a peanut allergy, or something?" The trio of time travelers went back into the ship. "It all started with this ship. This is where the answer will be." He knelt down, removing a hatch from the floor, with Adelaide kneeling opposite him.

"Did you remove anything?" Adelaide asked, looking to the crew. "This is for long-haul flights." The Doctor's nod confirmed Adelaide's guess. "It should have a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot here. And another power cell."

"Power cell?" Pritchard asked, all but Lunn and Cass joining them in the ship.

"Yeah, you can see the casing is empty."

Clara moved to the entrance of the ship, looking to where Lunn and Cass were having a discussion. "What's the matter?"

"She won't let me look inside the spaceship. She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here."

"I imagine they're pretty valuable."

Adelaide shot Pritchard a look. "Excuse me?"

"I mean powerful. Those power cells. I imagine they're pretty wonderful."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so, you know, take a wild stab in the dark."

"And the missing one must still be out there."

"Yes, well, otherwise..." The Doctor stepped closer to Adelaide. "Sorry, why is this man still talking to us?"

O'Donnell shook her head. "We haven't removed anything. There hasn't been time."

They exited the ship again. "Let's review the information," Adelaide said, crossing her arms and facing the Doctor. "Moran dies and those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night and they're partly see-through." The Doctor, as Adelaide spoke, started to grin.

Clara came up beside him. "Adelaide, wait, you're not saying..."

|C-S|

"They're ghosts!" the Doctor cheered, the crew having gathered in the bridge. He pointed at Adelaide. "Yeah, ghosts!"

"Yes, I did wonder why you were so certain I was wrong, considering you're the one who keeps declaring me in charge of theories," Adelaide reminded him.

"Yeah, you did say there was no such thing," Clara added. "You actually pooh-poohed Adelaide's ghost theory."

He shrugged. "Yes, well, well, there was no such thing as...as socks or smartphones and badgers until there suddenly were. Besides, what else could they be? They're not holograms."

"They're not Flesh Avatars."

"They're not Autons. They're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead." His grin grew, looking prepared to actually spin Adelaide around the room. "Wow. This is...it's amazing!"

"You know, I don't believe I've ever actually met a proper ghost before."

"Moran was our friend," Cass said, making Clara touch the Doctor's arm.

"The cards."

He nodded. "Oh! Oh, right you are." He pulled a pack of cards from his pocket, searching through it.

Clara sighed. "Oh, come here." She took the cards from him, finding the proper one and handing it back before giving Adelaide a look.

The Time Lady was normally far more conscious of the whole being kind and considerate of other's feelings simply because it was polite to do so, but when she got a bit too excited even she seemed to stop caring about actually being polite. The Doctor was just not that good at being in touch with other people's feelings.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," the Doctor read. "I'll do all I can to solve the death of your friend slash family member slash pet." He looked to Clara, who just sighed and took the card back. "But don't you see what this means? Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone. How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground, and ask them questions until your throat falls out? What's death like? Does it hurt? Do you still get hungry? Do you miss being alive? Why can you only handle metal objects?" he blinked. "Oh, I didn't know I'd noticed that." He waved a hand. "Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so!" Adelaide touched his arm. "Calm, Doctor, calm," he said to himself. "You were like this when you met Shirley Bassey."

"Question one," Adelaide said. "What is a ghost? Question two. What do they want?"

She'd just finished speaking when all of the lights went out, making her very glad that she was still standing right next to the Doctor and could thus take his hand immediately. "Whoa," O'Donnell said, standing. "Whoa, what's happening?"

"Good evening. Entering night mode."

"That's not right. We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!" she sat at a computer terminal as, somewhere in the distance, they heard a Cloister Bell.

"Er...what's doing that?"

Clara looked to the Time Lords. "Doctor?"

"The TARDIS Cloister Bell!" Without another word, he ran from the room, pulling Adelaide along with him.

|C-S|

The Cloister was even louder inside the TARDIS. "Doctor, what's wrong?" Clara asked, jogging to a stop as the Time Lords moved around the console.

"It must be the ghosts. That's why she was upset when we got here."

"Why? I don't understand."

"It's just what I was saying. You live and you die. That's it. The ghosts are aberrations. A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. She wants to get away from them."

Clara nodded. "So, what do we do?"

The Doctor pulled a handle on the console, making the Cloister Bell stop and the engines power down. "Put the handbrake on." Clara pulled off her jacket, moving back to the door. "Whoa! Ho, ho, ho, ho! Where do you think you're going?"

"Out there, where the action is."

The Doctor didn't look at Adelaide, though the Time Lady looked at him. "Look, you...er..."

"What?"

"Oh, this is my own fault. I like adventures as much as the next man...if the next man is a man who likes adventures. Even so, don't...don't go native."

Clara frowned. "What do you mean? I'm not."

"Look, there's a whole dimension in here," he gestured at the TARDIS, "but there's only room for one me. That's why Adelaide's here."

The human shook her head. "Wait...wait a second. You both just raved about ghosts like two kids who had too much sherbet."

"Do you know what you need? You need a hobby."

"I really don't."

He shrugged. "Or even better, another relationship. Come on, you lot, you're bananas about relationships. You're always writing songs about them, or going to war, or getting tattooed..."

"Doctor, I'm fine."

"I just felt that I...I...I had to say something."

Clara walked back closer to him. "I know. And I appreciated it."

"Because I've got a duty of care."

"Which you take very seriously, I know."

"So can I stop now?"

Clara seemed slightly relieved that the Doctor returned to his normal, as it was as far from actual normal as anyone could be. "Please. Please do."

Together, they left the TARDIS, though the Doctor took Adelaide's shoulder before they got far. "What do you think?"

"About Clara?" he nodded. "Clara is a control freak who dreams of adventure and doesn't really care about consequences. Sound familiar?"

|C-S|

While the rest of the crew hurried around the ship gathering the necessary bits for survival if O'Donnell couldn't get the base back into day mode, the Doctor and Adelaide stayed in the bridge with the woman in question. "Attention, all crew. The Drum has switched to night mode early so grab provisions and make your way to the Faraday cage. Pritchard, you are unaccounted for. Contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage immediately. Pritchard, contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage!"

"O'Donnell, it's okay," Bennett, who was with Clara in the mess hall, called. "Pritchard's in here!"

"Prichard, you moron. Grab your stuff, we're locking down early." O'Donnell pushed herself over to another set of monitors. "In case I can't get this back into day mode."

"Man overboard," Bennett shouted. "Man overboard! We need a rescue team in the water now!"

The Doctor didn't even wait a second before turning and running to the mess hall, Adelaide following and both of them leaving O'Donnell to work. They reached the room just as Cass and Lunn did the same.

"He's a ghost," Clara told them. "He's another ghost."

Pritchard's ghost picked up a chair and advanced towards them, prepared to use it as a weapon. But before he could get too close, the base shifted again, O'Donnell succeeding. "Good morning. Entering day mode."

 **A/N: I didn't like this episode when I first watched it, but something in this two parter is very crucial to the Doctor and Adelaide's relationship...**


	6. Before the Day

**Before the Day**

By the time they'd returned to the bridge, O'Donnell had found security footage of what had happened to Pritchard. He'd gone out to look for the power cell and been found and drowned by the ghosts when he returned.

"They're working out how to use the base against us," the Doctor reasoned. "Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning."

Clara nodded. "And now there's three of them."

"Cass, what do we do?" Bennett asked, everyone looking to her.

"We abandon the base. Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghost-busters or whatever."

"Wait, wait..."

Cass stopped in front of the Doctor. "I can't force you to leave, so you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew."

Clara looked at him as he turned away. "But we're coming back, aren't we?"

"Yes, we're coming back," he replied, speaking at the same lowered volume.

"O'Donnell, contact Topside. Tell them we're abandoning the base on my orders."

O'Donnell nodded, taking the nearby telephone. "Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over."

"Drum Control, this is Topside. We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over."

They all paused. "Repeat, Topside. Over."

"We've received your request for a rescue sub. It's two minutes away. Over."

"Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made? Over."

"Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over."

The Doctor took the phone from her. "Topside, this is the Doctor, UNIT security visa seven one zero Apple zero zero. You may be familiar with my work. Call back the sub."

"Doctor, why would..."

"Call it back! We have a hazardous and undefined contagion on board. This base is now under quarantine." He hung up.

Bennett frowned. "What did you do that for?"

"I presume that none of you sent that message, correct?" Adelaide asked them all. "Which means that the ghosts sent it and, for some reason, they want that crew here."

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, I don't know," the Doctor shrugged, "but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band. Okay. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings. Why? What's different at night?"

"It's mainly atmospheric. The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled."

He waved a hand. "No. Something...something else."

"The diagnostic sweep," Cass said. "When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power."

Adelaide frowned. "What systems specifically?"

"Life support, the locks," O'Donnell said. "They're electromagnetic. They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds."

The Doctor looked to Adelaide before turning to face the wall, thinking. "The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it."

"What do we do?" Clara asked.

He turned. "O'Donnell. Excellent work, returning the base to day mode."

O'Donnell looked down, seeming close to blushing. "Shut up. It was nothing...you really think so?"

"Now put it back into night mode."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"We know nothing. We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed." The Doctor moved back to stand beside Adelaide. "Well, I won't run. Not anymore. So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode."

Clara looked to Adelaide for some sort of sense, but the Time Lady just nodded. "We want to know what the ghosts are after. The best way is to ask them."

He grinned. "We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost."

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide were in the bridge with O'Donnell and Cass again, observing the CCTV and map of the base. Doctor, as the main planner of the situation, was the one with an earpiece that allowed him to speak to the crew. Adelaide was standing beside Cass behind O'Donnell, watching the screens, while the Doctor kept track of the map.

"Bennett's made them move," she called back. "Clara's in position."

"Clara, Bennett is going to run across the top of the T-junction to your right in about ten seconds. Draw the ghosts towards you. Turn right, and then take second left." Adelaide watched the ghosts start to follow Clara. "Lunn, they're coming your way. Clara's going to duck down to her left. You've got to keep the ghosts going on the same route they're on now. Then, after about fifty yards to your left, there is a flood door. O'Donnell will close the door once you're through."

"I...I can hear them."

"Lunn, don't let them see where you go."

Lunn ran out from where he'd been hiding. "Hey! Yeah, this way." But the ghosts split up, with two continuing to follow Clara and Pritchard following Lunn. "We've got a problem!"

Adelaide stepped forward. "They've separated."

The Doctor turned. "What?"

"Moran and the Tivolian are following Clara."

"Clara, look out," O'Donnell called. "Two ghosts are still on your case. Right behind you."

Clara started running again. "I'm beginning to think we should have let the ghosts in on the plan."

"Clara, there's a flood door at the end of the corridor, around the corner to your right. We'll close it from here. Listen to me. You've got to get through that door before Moran and the other ghost sees you."

Clara reached it. "Doctor."

He nodded. "Now, O'Donnell, fast as you can." She managed to get it closed in time, the ghosts not seeing where she went.

Adelaide really didn't like how she felt right now. She knew this was nothing like a battlefield and she was acting nothing like a general, but it felt like it none-the-less to someone like her. To someone who had run from every battlefield she'd ever stepped on the moment she'd realized what it was.

To the Betrayer who very much felt like running away now.

"Guys," Lunn called, "I'm nearly at my door."

"Now, Lunn, quickly."

O'Donnell started to close the door, but there was no denying that before it closed fully and Lunn had ducked to the side, that the ghost had seen him. "It saw me. Oh, God. It saw me. It's coming through. It's coming through the door."

They could see the ghost stepping through the door, but that was it. "We don't have a camera in there."

Cass turned to leave, but Adelaide grabbed her arm, forcing her to stay in place.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, Lunn. Lunn, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Lunn, what's happening?" Those in the bridge could only watch – this was what Adelaide hated – until Pritchard had re-emerged through the door and continued down the hall. "Lunn, can you hear me? Lunn? Lunn? Can you hear me? Lunn, Lunn? Lunn, Lunn! What's happening? Lunn? Lunn? Can you hear me?"

"I'm okay."

O'Donnell took Cass's shoulders. "Cass, he's alive."

"It didn't hurt me. I'm okay."

The Doctor moved forward, coming to stand beside Adelaide as they both frowned. "What? What's wrong with you? Why didn't it hurt you?" They exchanged a look. "Bennett, you're on again. Bennett, where are you?"

O'Donnell pulled him up on the screens, letting out a breath. "There. Oh, God, look."

"Bennet, can you hear me? There are two ghosts just around the corner from you."

"Yes, thanks, I'd noticed," Bennett hissed.

"The Faraday cage is across the intersection and down the corridor to your right. This last bit is down to you."

Bennett nodded and started to run, both ghosts following. Pritchard joined shortly after they started. "Okay, so, the good news is, they aren't split up anymore. Cue Clara!"

O'Donnell hit a button, bringing up a hologram of Clara in the Faraday cage that, thankfully, tricked the ghosts into walking in and letting them lock them inside.

The Time Lords exchanged grins.

|C-S|

It had been a rather furious discussion surrounding who would go see the ghosts in order to try and have Cass translate what the ghosts were mumbling. The Doctor, with his sonic sunglasses, had claimed to be the best choice because he'd transmit the images but Adelaide had attempted to argue that she'd have a chance of interpreting it on her own.

Eventually, Clara had needed to step in and picked the Doctor, as if something went terribly wrong Adelaide would still be able to help them solve the mystery.

Which had done what had probably been the goal and made the Doctor pout.

As such, Adelaide was in the bridge again, this time with Clara at her side, watching as the Doctor went to speak with the ghosts.

"Cass, are you seeing this?" the Doctor asked, reaching the cage.

"Sonic glasses Wi-Fi locked in," O'Donnell reported. "On screen B2."

Lunn looked to Cass. "She says she can't see them properly. The glass is too thick and they're too far away."

"Open the door."

O'Donnell's eyes widened. "What?"

Clara looked as though she was regretting recommending he be the one to go to them. "Doctor, you can't go in there, they will kill you!" she looked to Adelaide, attempting not to be worried about how calm the Time Lady was.

She knew that Adelaide didn't show terror, at least not often and not this publically. And she knew that Adelaide was terrified because the Doctor was in danger and the Time Lords were always terrified when the other was in danger.

"They don't have any weapons or access to any controls," Adelaide said, O'Donnell turning to her as she spoke. "Open the door."

O'Donnell, after a moment of hesitation, did so. The Doctor hurried inside, closing the door behind him, and faced the ghosts. Moran stepped forward, the image clearer now, and reached into the Doctor's body. Even Adelaide flinched slightly instinctually. "Cold, isn't it? Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, aren't you? Is that better, Cass?"

Cass stepped closer to the screen, frowning at the ghosts. The words had started to become clearer, the three speaking in unison. "She says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over," Lunn relayed. "They're saying 'the dark'. 'The score'...no, 'the sword'. The...'for sale'?" he shook his head. "No, 'the forsaken'. 'The temple'."

"What?"

But Cass nodded. "Yes, she's certain. 'The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple'. Just that, over and over."

"Dark, sword, forsaken, temple," the Doctor repeated. "What does that mean? What are you telling us, big man?"

Adelaide closed her eyes, but the Time Lords spoke in unison. "Maps." All of the humans looked surprised at that. "We need maps."

The Doctor nodded. "We just worked out what our friend here is telling us."

|C-S|

"They're coordinates," the Doctor explained.

Bennett shook his head. "How can they be coordinates?"

"The dark is space," Adelaide provided. "Let's whoever is following the coordinates know they're going to another planet. The sword..." the Doctor gave an apple to Bennet, a ball to O'Donnell, another ball and a placemat to Clara, gesturing for them to hold the objects up in a line. "Orion's sword." She gestured at the objects. "Made of three stars, though one is the Orion Nebula so not technically a star."

"But if viewed from back here," the Doctor continued, moving to the back of the room so that he could look down the line, "the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword." He rejoined the group. "So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer." He took back the objects, moving to the map table. "The forsaken."

"The forsaken, or abandoned, or empty town. It's a location, repeatedly beaming out to someone or something across the universe."

"And every time they kill one of us..."

"It strengthens the signal," Clara finished, making the Doctor point at her. "Another ghost, another transmitter."

O'Donnell nodded. "Which is why they sent for that rescue sub."

"Get more people down here, kill them, make even more ghosts to beam out the coordinates."

"But why are they beaming out the coordinates?" Cass asked. "Is it a distress call?"

"It could be." The Doctor shrugged. "Or a warning. Might even be a call to arms. It could mean: 'come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself.'" He paused, looking to Adelaide. "Wait a minute, though, wait a minute. Do you know what this means?"

She nodded. "They're not a natural phenomenon. Someone is deliberately killing people, hijacking what can best be described as their souls, and transforming them into transmitters."

"But what do the coordinates lead to, though? To us? To the ghosts? What?"

O'Donnell's turn to have the Doctor point at her. "Ah! What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking." Everyone stared at the Time Lords blankly, making the Doctor frown. "Really? Come on. None of you? Surely just being around Adelaide makes you cleverer by osmosis? What is the other question?"

"The temple," Cass said. "The fourth part of the directions. What's the temple?"

The Doctor sighed. "Finally. It's like pulling teeth."

Adelaide was too distracted to scold him. "We're in a flooded military town." She gestured at the map. "Shops, houses, town square, and..." She held up a picture.

Clara frowned. "A church?"

"Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip, and a jump to stopping them."

"Wait, you're not suggesting that?" Bennett shook his head. "But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here."

The Doctor looked to him before addressing the crew. "No one has to stay. In fact, I would prefer it if you went, but Adelaide doesn't like it when I say that. You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know," he gestured at Cass, Lunn, and O'Donnell, "you have chosen to protect and serve." Point to Bennett. "You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge. None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving."

Lunn looked to Cass. "Cass says we should go, but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay." He nodded. "So I...er...guess I should too."

O'Donnell nodded. "Well, count me in. Who wants to live forever, anyway?"

Bennett looked at them all. "Sorry...er...have you gone insane? We can go home." O'Donnell just shrugged, grinning. "They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts?" Bennett looked to Adelaide, the Time Lady unable to resist the smallest of smiles at him. "Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all."

|C-S|

Bennett was the one controlling the drone submarine to reach the flooded city in order to find what was in said temple. "Okay, the sub is approaching the town square. Which way is the church?"

"North-north-west, one hundred and fifty yards," O'Donnell instructed. "That's it. Starboard two degrees."

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Clara asked.

"Something that has the power to raise the dead and turn them into transmitters. I expect we'll know it when we see it."

"Wait, I've found the church."

The Doctor nodded. "That's it, keep going." He frowned, seeing a casket in the debris. "Wait. What's that? Move closer."

|C-S|

Adelaide knelt beside the casket as the rest of them stood behind her. "It's the suspended-animation chamber from the spaceship," the Doctor explained.

"So the pilot could be in there."

Adelaide nodded. "There's something in here. But it's deadlocked." She frowned. "It should be the pilot but...I don't know. It's as though something's off."

"More questions," the Doctor sighed. "Everything we solve, just more questions."

She stood. "Back to the beginning, re-evaluate the situation. We arrive, we see the ghosts, and they don't kill us. Instead, they bring us here to the spaceship, and then they try to kill us."

The Doctor climbed into the ship, frowning at the symbols on the wall. "Not translated by the TARDIS. Why?" He cleaned his sonic glasses and put them on, scanning them, and then stepped out again, Adelaide taking his place with her own sonic. "Lunn, translate for me." He turned to Cass. "Whenever I step outside, you are the smartest person in the room beside Adelaide. So, tell me, what's weird about this? I know that it's all bonkers but, you know, when you think about it, one thing keeps snagging in your mind. What is it?"

It didn't take long for Cass to have an answer. "The markings on the inside of the spaceship."

"The markings on the inside of the spaceship. Yes! Why?"

"I don't think they're just words."

Adelaide moved to the doorway of the ship. "They're a localized and manufactured electromagnetic field."

"Magnets," the Doctor translated.

Bennett frowned. "Magnets? How?"

"The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. The first time we all heard those coordinates, did anyone expect them to be something different?" Everyone shook their head, Adelaide moving out of the ship again. "It was as though we already knew."

"Like the words were already in us."

"So that writing is the coordinates?"

The Doctor nodded. "Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way. But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired." He turned to the companion. "Clara, why don't we have a radio in the TARDIS?"

"You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel that Adelaide made you throw away."

"And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand." He held out his arms. "Don't you see? These words are an earworm. A song you can't stop humming, even after you die."

"Okay, so the spaceship lands here. The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he slash she slash it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber," Clara reasoned.

"Waiting for his slash her slash its mates to pick the message up." The Doctor shook his head. "My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me." He grabbed Adelaide's hand. "It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil."

She grinned. "It's astonishing."

"I want to kiss it to death."

They were interrupted by an alarm sounding. "Attention, all crew. Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures."

O'Donnell ran to a nearby screen. "Oh no. The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings cause a computer malfunction. Its first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and its flooding the base."

"Cass says, 'close the internal flood doors'. That'll contain the water in the central corridor."

The Doctor turned to O'Donnell. "Where's the TARDIS?"

"On the other side."

"We need to get there. It's our only way out."

She nodded. "Okay. We've got thirty seconds before the flood doors close."

And then they started to run.

Adelaide, Bennett, and O'Donnell managed to get across the central corridor with no trouble, but Clara, Lunn, Cass, and the Doctor didn't. Water flooded the corridor as the Time Lady spun, eyes wide, when she realized what had happened. What she'd have to do alone. "Doctor!"

He brought up the intercom. "You'll get us out, Adelaide, we'll sit tight. You'll come back."

Clara frowned at him. "She can just come over in the TARDIS now."

"The TARDIS won't go here. It won't go near the ghosts."

Her eyes widened. "You can't just let her leave us!"

"I'm going to go back in time to when the spaceship landed," Adelaide said, her voice surprisingly steady. "Once I understand why this is happening, I should be able to stop them from killing anyone."

The Doctor didn't seem able to tear his attention away from Adelaide. "She can save us," he whispered it. "You trust her, don't you, Clara?"

Adelaide didn't know if she was actually thankful that Clara nodded her agreement.

A different Adelaide may have run away at this point. But then she would have had to face not knowing more things and while a different Adelaide may have allowed it, this Adelaide didn't.

This Adelaide needed to know.

She turned away from the door and hurried towards the TARDIS, thankful for the key. "Wait," Bennett asked, jogging after her, "you're going to go back in time? How do you do that?"

Adelaide put a hand on the TARDIS door. "Extremely carefully."

|C-S|

In the mess hall of the base, half of the four left behind seemed extremely nervous. Clara, meanwhile, was relying on the fact that the Doctor was just staring out at the water beyond.

Adelaide had always liked water. Not really being submerged by it, as they were now, because that was far too dark, but just the concept of water in general. She'd even been called Mer on Gallifrey, taken as her title the first name of someone named Brook, been Attwater as a human.

Always water. Always fighting through things she feared because the Doctor knew that despite how much she hated it, Adelaide couldn't resist exploring the depths of oceans.

After all, she had to know everything, solve every mystery. And she wanted to do it herself.

"And you're sure Adelaide won't just leave us here?" he heard Cass ask behind him, speaking to Clara.

Clara sounded as though she were attempting to maintain a smile. "Guys, look, this is how we roll. One of them goes away, comes back, and whoever was left behind has to listen to how they did it."

The Doctor stepped forward, drawing their attention as he spotted a figure in the water.

No. No. No, no, no, no, no.

"Is it Moran or Pritchard or the mole guy?" Lunn asked. "How...how did they get out?"

Clara shook her head. "No, I don't think it's any of them. I think it's a new ghost."

"What does that mean?"

"It means something happened in the past, it means that somebody else must have..." and then they saw exactly what the Doctor already had. "Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no."

Of course, if the Doctor was being honest, he hadn't really heart any of what they'd said.

Because Adelaide was a ghost.

 **A/N: The moment I started thinking about Adelaide and this episode, I realized that I needed her to be the one who went back in time instead of the Doctor...this will be interesting.**


	7. Before the Night

**Before the Dusk**

Adelaide was alone in a TARDIS that didn't quite look right without the Doctor, though she was well aware of the fact it was only because it wasn't her TARDIS. She would have looked impossibly natural in her own. "Imagine that there is a man." She was leaning on the railing of the upper gallery. "And that man has a time machine. He goes up and down history, getting into more trouble than he knows what to do with, but one thing he does have is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven."

She pointed her sonic at the console, starting to play Beethoven's Fifth.

"One day, he has an idea. Why have a time machine, after all, if you can't visit your heroes?" Adelaide paused. "Of course, there's a very good reason, but he doesn't care for reason. He goes to eighteenth-century Germany, but he can't find Beethoven anywhere. Nobody seems to have heard of him, not even his family. Beethoven literally doesn't exist."

She smiled. "This is all theoretical, of course. I went to visit him once, quite a lovely fellow. But this is what is known as the Bootstrap Paradox."

"Google it!" someone, who sounded suspiciously like the Doctor, called from somewhere deep inside the TARDIS.

"The time traveler panics," Adelaide continued, uninterrupted. "He can't bear the idea of a world without the music of Beethoven. Thankfully, he happened to have brought along all of his Beethoven music to be signed, which is, again, only something someone incredibly foolish would do. But the time traveler copies out all of the concertos and the symphonies and has them published. He becomes Beethoven." She straightened. "History continues unchanged. Time is unaltered. But there remains an extremely glaring question. Who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's Fifth?"

Adelaide may have been a biologist, not a time-scientist, but she knew the complicated logic of a Bootstrap Paradox. She knew how to recognize them, how to explain one.

How to create one.

|C-S|

O'Donnell didn't quite know how to approach Adelaide as the Time Lady stood observing the fake town they'd landed in. The Doctor was, honestly, O'Donnell's favorite, but she did know who Adelaide was, of course she knew.

Adelaide was the scientist one, the logical one, the one who kept the Doctor from offending too many people as they gallivanted across the universe together.

It was just strange to actually see Adelaide in person. Without the Doctor.

"Has Bennett finished yet?" Adelaide asked, making O'Donnell look to her. "We should get going."

"He's still throwing up." O'Donnell shrugged. "One small step for men, one giant..." she made a vomiting sound.

Adelaide nodded. "Time travel does that sometimes."

"Somehow I doubt that Caroline lost her breakfast on her first trip, but I suppose she was also you, so..."

That made Adelaide look at her. "You seem to know quite a bit about the Doctor and me."

O'Donnell shrugged. "I used to be in military intelligence. I was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window.'

"In anger?"

She grinned. "Is there another way to dangle someone out a window?" Adelaide smiled slightly. "What year are we in?"

"1980."

"So, pre-Harold Saxon, pre-the Minister of War, pre-the moon exploding and a big bat coming out."

"Let's not mention the Minister of War again, to me or the Doctor. But mainly me."

They heard the TARDIS door open again, Bennett finally emerging. "Sorry about that. Had a prawn sandwich. Might have been off."

Adelaide turned, smiling at him. "Shall we go?"

"Just one sec," O'Donnell said, "I've just got something in my boot."

Adelaide nodded and walked off, leaving Bennett with O'Donnell, though the humans jogged up just as she was reaching the high street. "Why have we gone to Russia?" Bennett asked, looking at the Russian around them.

"We haven't." Both humans looked to her. "We're still in Scotland. This is just the town before it flooded. I had the TARDIS bring us to when the spaceship first touched down. It seems like Russia because it's the height of your Cold War and the military was being trained for offensives on Soviet soil." They found the spaceship parked, as they'd suspected, in front of the church.

Adelaide was the first one inside. The missing stasis chamber was where it should have been with a wrapped mummy on top of the other. "Oh, is that the pilot?" O'Donnell asked, looking to the mummy. "My God, look at the size of it."

"No, O'Donnell, that's the body." As she spoke, Bennett bent down to open the power cell hatch.

"What do you mean, the body?"

"This isn't a normal spaceship. It's a hearse."

Bennett stood. "The suspended animation chamber's still here, and the power cells for the engine."

"And there are no markings on the wall."

Adelaide turned back to the entrance. "Yet."

As they exited the ship again, the Tivoli ghost – still very much alive – ran up with a briefcase and waving a large white handkerchief. "Greetings!"

"It's him," O'Donnell gasped. "That's the ghost from the Drum."

The Tivoli stopped about an inch from Adelaide's face, making the Time Lady raise her eyebrows. "Remarkable." He stepped back, looking at the other two. "Oh, and humans, too. Albar Prentis, Funeral Director." He handed out business cards.

"You're from Tivoli, aren't you?" Bennett asked.

Prentis nodded. "The most invaded planet in the galaxy! Our capital city has a sign saying 'if you occupied us, you'd be home by now'."

"Yes, I've encountered you before. Predators who hide as cowards."

If Prentis was uneasy, he did not show it. "We do tend to antagonize." He laughed.

"What exactly are you doing here?"

"Ah, yes, of course." Prentis ran up the ramp into the ship, gesturing at the body. "This is the Fisher King. He and his armies invaded Tivoli and enslaved us for ten glorious years! Until we were liberated by the Arcateenians. But, thank the Gods, soon we'd irritated them so much, they enslaved us, too!" he laughed again.

Bennett shook her head. "My first proper alien, and he's an idiot."

"Technically the Doctor was your first, but he's an idiot too, so no worries," Adelaide commented.

"And now," Prentis continued, "in accordance with Arcateenian custom, I've come to bury him on a barren, savage outpost."

"You mean the town?"

"No," Adelaide corrected, "the planet."

Prentis ran back out of the ship, looking to Adelaide. "Although, at the risk of starting a bidding war, you could enslave me. In the ship, I have directions to my planet and a selection of items that you can oppress me with."

"Do you or the Arcateenians happen to have any sort of technology that transmits a signal using minds?" Adelaide asked instead.

He just shook his head, laughing. "We don't have anything like that."

O'Donnell frowned. "So who sends the message?" She looked over to the mummy.

"Follow me." Adelaide backed away, pulling out her cellphone. "I need to call the Doctor."

|C-S|

Adelaide was a ghost. The Doctor was looking at an Adelaide without her beautiful green eyes and she was a ghost.

No one was willing to speak to him, and for that he was glad. Because this couldn't be real. This couldn't be what had happened.

And even if it was, there was nothing he could do. The moment he'd seen her ghost he'd worked through every possible course of action but had come up with nothing.

Adelaide had the TARDIS. Unless the ship came back, there was no way he'd be able to get to her. She was trapped in the past and she was going to die.

He was going to lose her.

He should have made her promise not to die. Granted, he'd made her promise that before and it had done nothing to change her course of action, but he should have made her promise all the same. He should have made her swear that she would come back.

And now it was too late.

Now he'd never get to see her again.

The Doctor felt strangely empty. Extremely angry, angry to the point that Adelaide would have hated, but empty.

And terrified.

Behind him, Clara was watching. Even she wouldn't have been able to speak to him.

Lunn stepped up to his companion's side, speaking quietly. "You've been here before, in situations like this before."

Clara could only look between the Doctor and Adelaide. She couldn't tell if the Doctor was trying to come up with a plan. She couldn't tell if he was thinking at all. "Yeah, not exactly like, but, yeah, once or twice."

Lunn nodded. "So you've had to deal with people who are scared. What do you say to them?" He paused. "I'm asking what I should say to you."

She allowed herself the smallest of smiles. "That it will be alright. That the Doctor and Adelaide will save us."

"And when you say it, do you believe it?"

"Yeah." Clara nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"And now?" Before Clara could answer, Cass, who'd been sitting close to the glass to get the best view of Adelaide, hit the back of her chair to get their attention, though the Doctor still didn't look over. "Cass thinks Adelaide's saying something different to the others. She's saying Moran, Pritchard, Apprentice...no, Prentis, O'Donnell, Clara, Doctor, Adelaide, Bennett, Cass...It's a list of all our names and when she finishes, she just goes back to the beginning again, over and over. That's it."

Clara frowned. "Who's Prentis?" Her phone rang, making Clara look down and immediately back up at the Doctor. "It's Adelaide." The Time Lord turned instantly, taking it from her.

"She's alive?" Lunn asked, frowning.

"For the moment."

"Adelaide?" the Doctor said, his voice some combination of terror and anger that honestly might have frightened Clara more than seeing Adelaide's ghost. "Adelaide, what's happened?"

"The spaceship is a hearse," Adelaide reported. Her image appeared, projected from the phone. She was leaning against some sort of wall, not in the TARDIS, but there was no need thanks to her continuing to carry around a cellphone linked to the ship. "Doctor, what's happened?"

"Another ghost has appeared."

Adelaide nodded. "Given your expression, I presume it's me?" He nodded. "Well, thankfully, I am currently okay."

Clara stepped up to the Doctor's side. "What does it mean?"

Adelaide honestly looked a bit ashamed that Clara had asked that question. "It means I die."

"No, not necessarily. We can change the sequence of events so..."

"This isn't a potential future. This is the future. A fixed event. I have to die." Adelaide had said that before. The Doctor remembered it well. Die to save Time. Die to save the universe.

Die to leave him.

"No," Clara shook her head. "You can change things."

"I can't." Adelaide was looking at the Doctor, though she was answering the human. "Even making the smallest change could lead to catastrophic ramifications. It doesn't do well to mess with fixed events."

The Doctor stepped back, phone in hand. "I need to talk to you on your own. Now." Adelaide said nothing as they both held up the phones, turning away from the others. "You're not going to die."

"Really, Doctor?"

This was like a terrible nightmare. This had all happened before. He already knew how it would end. He already knew how he couldn't bear it.

"I'm not going to let you die."

"Sadly, there's not much you can do about it from the future. I can't change fixed events. There are rules..."

"So break them." He practically snarled that. "You're a Time Lady who ran away, don't you dare tell me you care about rules."

"These rules are different."

"I don't care."

"You should." Her turn to snap. "The universe knows me as the protector for a reason, Doctor. I maintain the order. I keep it from breaking apart."

"It wouldn't break apart if you live."

"We both know that's not true." She was quiet for a few seconds. "The future has already happened, Doctor, but I will try to save you in any way I can. I will try to get you back the TARDIS." He said nothing. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I wish there was a different outcome." She took a breath. "Now tell me about the ghost."

The Doctor turned to look at it again. "There's a mark on your jacket. The right shoulder." He held out the phone to show her.

"I'm not saying the same thing as the others."

"No, you're saying a list of names. Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O'Donnell, Clara, Doctor, Adelaide, Bennett, Cass."

"Prentis is the Tivoli," Adelaide explained, but as she spoke the ghost stepped through the window. "I moved inside, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"What am I doing?"

The Doctor backed up slowly, forced himself to. Forced himself to move back because he had to survive because if he didn't then there was no chance he could save Adelaide and the Doctor was not letting her die. "Nothing. You're just standing there."

"Glad I'm not attempting to kill you."

"You're moving toward the control panel." The ghost of Adelaide brought up the controls for the Faraday cage, opening it. "You've opened the Faraday cage."

"Interesting," Adelaide breathed. "Go to the Faraday cage."

"The message has changed," Cass called. "She's saying something different. She's saying..."

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"She's saying...'the chamber will open tonight'."

Adelaide let out a small groan. "Oh, Adelaide, why can't you be more specific? Faraday cage, Doctor, now."

"But the phone. No phone signal."

Adelaide nodded. "You'll have to leave it outside then. Send someone out if it's safe when it rings. I will need to know everything my ghost does; do you understand, Doctor?"

He said nothing, but the four of them ran from the room.

|C-S|

In the past, Adelaide reemerged from where she'd been having the conversation, O'Donnell and Bennett keeping watch for her. She said nothing as she led the way back to the hearse ship.

It wasn't that surprising to learn she would die here. Adelaide had never truly feared death. Always known it would come, always known there was no way to run from it. Part of her had simply always hoped it wouldn't happen like this.

But in the ship, Prentis was lying on the bandages instead of the body. Adelaide hurried inside, scanning him with her sonic.

"Guess that dead body wasn't so dead after all," O'Donnell said, eying the alien.

"And now we've got the writing," Bennett said, making Adelaide turn.

"Done by the Fisher King himself," she nodded, leaving the ship again and noticing the drag marks in the soil. "He's taken the suspended animation chamber to the church."

There was a roar in the distance that made them all turn. "What was that?"

Adelaide forced herself to breathe. "Back to the TARDIS. Now." They started to run, but there was another roar in front of them, clearly blocking their way. "It's cut us off." They ducked into a side passage.

"Let's split up," O'Donnell called, ducking to the side. "Go on, Bennett."

Adelaide and Bennett ran into a room close to the end of the corridor, some sort of fake bathroom, and Bennett jammed a chair under the door. The Time Lady closed her eyes, knowing what would happen to O'Donnell, knowing that there was nothing she could do.

They heard something move past them, and then a loud roar.

Bennett didn't wait. He pulled the chair away and ran back towards O'Donnell. Adelaide followed at a far slower pace, coming upon them when Bennett had already found O'Donnell and the woman had died in his arms.

Another death. Another ghost.

Adelaide told herself that she shouldn't care because she'd known it would happen. That a previous her wouldn't have cared.

"Who's next on the list?" Bennett asked her as she came to a stop, laying O'Donnell down and standing. "That list your ghost was saying, that's the order in which people are going to die, isn't it? I mean, I've only just figured that out. But you knew that all along, didn't you? Moran. Pritchard. Prentis. O'Donnell."

She nodded. "It made the most logical sense."

Bennett narrowed his eyes. "You just wanted to test your theory, didn't you?"

"Yes." Adelaide crossed her arms. "I am not going to let you continue to operate under some false pretense of who I am, Bennett. I regret that O'Donnell had to die, I do, but it needed to happen."

"Needed to?"

"I needed to be certain." She stepped closer. "And not in some attempt to save myself, though I know that is what you were about to say. I am attempting to save everyone else on that list."

"So you can save your precious Doctor?"

"Yes." A pause. "We're going back to the TARDIS. Now."

"And what are you going to do there?"

Adelaide didn't look back at him. "Run."

 **A/N: Hm...seems like the Time Lord Victorious is starting to come back out...**


	8. Before the Fall

**Before the Fall**

She did not speak as they returned to the TARDIS, holding the door open for Bennett. He just looked at her. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Extremely." She moved to the console. "I'm going to try."

"But what about the people in the future? You said you're going to save them."

"And if saving them means running away?" Bennett frowned. "If you'd left the base when it was offered to you, you would have been safe. Sure, you would have wondered what you would have been able to do to help, but you would have been safe."

He stepped closer. "That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do."

"Another thing you should learn about me." She started to flick buttons on the console. "The right thing isn't always the most logical, so I don't care about it."

But as the TARDIS took flight, the Cloister Bell began to toll and Adelaide hit the console, knowing it didn't work by the sound the engines made when it settled again.

"What happened?"

Adelaide moved back to the door, opening it. "We went half an hour backward. I'm locked in my own time stream. I needed to prove that I can't run from this."

Bennett nodded. "Well, what do we do?"

"Keep out of sight until time catches up." Adelaide gestured for Bennett to follow her back into the city.

The human, however, spotted the Tivoli doing some sort of calculation. "Prentis. He's alive."

Adelaide glanced over. "No, he's just not dead yet. A distinct difference in this situation." She turned more, grabbing Bennett's shoulder before he got too far. "And we're not telling him."

Bennett frowned. "I mean, we can just..."

She pulled him more, forcing him around a corner and out of sight from their past selves. "No, we can't. We cannot alter events we have already been a witness to. We can't cheat time. I have tried before, and I just tried now. I know that O'Donnell meant something to you, but she's dead. You have to remember that. You can't save him and you can't save her. Do you understand?" Bennett didn't say anything, but Adelaide took his silence as confirmation and stepped away, crouching behind large barrels in order to watch the conversation of their past selves.

"Albar Prentis, Funeral Director," he said, handing out business cards.

"You're from Tivoli, aren't you?" past Bennett asked.

Prentis nodded. "The most invaded planet in the galaxy! Our capital city has a sign saying 'if you occupied us, you'd be home by now'."

"Yes, I've encountered you before. Predators who hide as cowards."

If Prentis was uneasy, he did not show it. "We do tend to antagonize." He laughed.

"What exactly are you doing here?"

Bennett stood beside Adelaide, but the Time Lady grabbed his shoulder and forced him down, making a noise that made O'Donnell glance over, but she saw nothing.

Laws of time were some of the few things Adelaide had never challenged. She was not going to be changing that today.

|C-S|

In the Faraday cage, sans access to the phone because it had been stolen by the ghosts, Cass and Lunn were sitting, resting back against the wall, and Clara was at the door looking out.

The Doctor looked ready to punch something or someone.

"The dark," Clara repeated, stepping back. "The sword. The forsaken. The temple." She looked to the final two crew members left. "When we found out what the ghosts were saying, we weren't surprised because the words, they were already inside us. But you," she pointed to Lunn, "you were, weren't you? You didn't know what the words were going to be."

Lunn blinked. "Er...no, I didn't. How did you know?"

"Who was the one person who didn't see the writing in the spaceship?"

"Me. Cass wouldn't let me go inside."

Clara nodded. "That's why the ghosts didn't hurt you when they had the chance. The message isn't inside you."

"Yes, I suppose that makes sense."

The Doctor didn't open his eyes when he spoke, but Clara was thankful he said something at all. "You sound like Adelaide."

She smiled. "So you can get the phone back."

"What?" Cass grabbed Lunn's shoulders, pulling him towards her for an explanation. "She's saying I should go and get the phone back."

"No!"

Clara looked back. "Listen, listen. I need...we...we need to be able to contact Adelaide and you are the only one who can do this."

Lunn nodded. "Okay." Cass grabbed him again, signing furiously while Clara looked out to see if there were any ghosts nearby. "No, she's right. None of you can get it back."

Cass signed something else, Clara glancing back. "What? What is it? What did she say?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Please." Clara didn't need the Doctor to comment about Adelaide to picture the Time Lady thanking her for bothering.

"She said to ask you whether traveling with the Doctor and Adelaide changed you, or were you always happy to put other people's lives at risk."

She looked at the Time Lord then, who was watching her, jaw tense. Wanting to know what her answer would be. "They taught me to do what has to be done." She opened the Faraday cage door. "You should get going."

|C-S|

When their past selves finally walked away, Adelaide stood, looking down at her shoulder. There was a mark, some sort of dust or scuff from pulling Bennett back down.

It was time.

"Bennett, go back to the TARDIS," she ordered, looking at him. "I am going to go speak with the Fisher King." She stepped away. "I'm sorry." She watched Bennett walk away and turned to the church.

Was this where she would die? Adelaide had never pictured something like this.

She supposed it had to happen somewhere.

Granted, she'd never pictured a beach, but last regeneration she'd been willing to die there. The main difference was that her last regeneration had wanted death. Her last regeneration hadn't wanted to live.

She supposed it was good that she didn't feel the same now.

|C-S|

Adelaide descended into the basement, seeing the suspended animation chamber at the far end. She'd walked to her death before, so this was not a new feeling. "I've come from the future," she called to the Fisher King. "I've seen your chaos. The bloodshed."

"Tell me what you have seen," the Fisher King said.

"Ghosts."

"Ghosts?"

She was standing motionless, listening to the Fisher King move around her. "Souls pulled from the dead repeating directions to this spot into eternity."

"How many ghosts do I create? How many!"

"Five." And only five. Only five people were going to die.

"My ghosts will make more ghosts. Enough to bring an armada. Enough to wake me from my sleep."

Adelaide turned to face him in the darkness. "And what will happen when your people arrive?"

"We will drain the oceans and put the humans in chains."

Adelaide stepped forward. "This world, this universe, is protected."

"Yes. One woman, lost in time."

"There is another."

"The seed of their destruction is already sown. They will die. The message will be sent. My people will come, and you will do nothing to stop it, Time Lord." He stepped out of the shadows, looking down at Adelaide. "Time Lords. Cowardly, vain curators who suddenly remembered they had teeth and became the most warlike race in the galaxy."

Adelaide surprised herself by smiling. "Oh, don't worry, I am well aware of who my people are."

"But you...you!" The Fisher King stepped forward. "You are curious. You have seen the words, too. I can hear them tick inside you. But you are still locked in your history. Still slavishly protecting time. Willing to die rather than change a word of the future. You will be a strong beacon. How many ghosts can I make of you?"

She was standing next to the suspended animation chamber now, Fisher King before her. "You know, you, the Tivoleans, and I have a lot in common. We will all do anything to survive. They'll surrender to anyone. You will hijack other people's souls and turn them into electromagnetic projections. I run away. The same will to endure. The same fear of stopping and what might be lurking in the dark there." She leaned forward. "I've thought it through, which is something you never should have let me do; I once survived a fixed event of my own death because it was one shot instead of two. Small changes can do great things and all I need to do to survive this is some small thing."

She stepped forward, forcing the Fisher King back a step. She felt like the Doctor and wasn't certain if that was good. "You robbed those people of their deaths and made them nothing more than a message transmitter. You violated something far more important than time. You bent the rules of life and death. You stole their choices from them."

The Fisher King snarled. "There is nothing you can do." He readied his weapon at her.

"Weren't you listening? I've already done it. There are no more words. No more message. I've spent long enough with a Time Lord who loves interfering to know how it works."

The Fisher King snarled, pushing Adelaide aside and stomping off. Adelaide just watched him go with that smile again.

Sometimes people had to die to solve a mystery, but Adelaide had admitted that long ago.

She'd come to terms with it.

She knew how it worked.

|C-S|

The four in the future ran into the main hanger, running from the ghosts and hoping for salvation from a Time Lady who didn't like saving.

"Back, get back," Clara ordered, holding onto the Doctor had to ensure that he stayed with them. Their backs were against the suspended animation chamber and the ghosts entered.

There was nowhere to run.

And then the suspended animation chamber opened.

The Doctor had once said that learning Adelaide was a Time Lady had been one of the only true miracles in the universe. At that moment, he revised that statement.

Seeing Adelaide sitting up in that chamber completely and utterly alive with a grin on her face was a real miracle.

Despite the situation, Adelaide looked as though she were having the time of her life. "Don't kiss me," she told the Doctor, hopping out. "In public and morning breath."

Clara's eyes were wide. "Adelaide?"

The Time Lady gestured them to follow her into the Bridge, putting her sonic into a spot on the console to transmit the Fisher King roar.

"What's that noise?" Clara asked.

"The call of the Fisher King. The call of their master."

The ghosts turned and left the room, Adelaide pulling up a CCTV of their progress. "Where are they going?"

Adelaide let the humans watch what happened next, though that was mainly because the Doctor had grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the rest. "Doctor..."

He kissed her, hard – one full of anger and refusal and pure honest terror but pure honest relief that she was still there – but it was Adelaide who pulled back.

"I need you to promise me that you won't do that again," he said quietly, gripping both of her hands to the point that it nearly hurt. "That you will not walk to your death again without me."

"I had no choice, Doctor."

"You always have a choice." He studied her face. "Next time, ignore the universe. Ignore the laws of time. Ignore every logical bone in your body. Don't abandon me again. Promise me that."

Adelaide's turn to study his face, to go looking in his eyes for something she couldn't quite describe. "We both know that I can't do that, Doctor."

"Please."

But she shook her head. "I am not going to ignore the universe. I am not going to ignore the laws of time. I am not going to ignore logic because no matter how much you have influenced me and how much traveling with you may have changed, I am still me." She moved to pull back, but if one thing could be said of the Doctor he had a tight grip. "What is logical isn't always what is right. I am not going to promise you anything. Now let me go."

He did, but neither turned away.

Both wondered if the fact the Doctor was living past his original timeline meant that their futures were empty of fixed events. If they were even Aligned anymore.

|C-S|

They used the Doctor's sonic glasses to remove the memory of the words from the other three. Clara, either willingly or not, seemed completely oblivious to the argument the Time Lords would be having the moment they were completely alone. "So what was it?" the human asked. "Your ghost."

Adelaide was leaning back against the console behind her, looking remarkably casual. "A hologram. Like the one the Doctor made to lure the ghosts into the Faraday cage originally. I simply added a few pre-recorded phrases and some artificial intelligence somewhat stolen from the Cyberplanner." She tapped her head at that. Clara moved to remove the glasses, but Adelaide gave her a look, stepping forward to do it herself. "All transmitted from my sonic." She waved the pen, turning to Cass and giving her the glasses. "As soon as the chamber was brought on board, I connected with the base's wifi and created a ghost Adelaide."

Clara nodded. "Why did they only come out at night?"

Adelaide let the Doctor answer that. "Because they're electromagnetic projections that were out of phase with the base's day mode."

She pulled the glasses off Cass as well. "There, all memory of the writing is gone." She stepped back. "Where's Bennett?"

|C-S|

Adelaide found him outside the Faraday Cage. The TARDIS had, as she'd suspected, brought him here with the emergency protocols set in place by the Doctor. She was thankful they had his TARDIS, as she'd never bothered to set up the same function in her own.

"What will happen to them?" Bennett asked her.

"UNIT will remove the Faraday cage with them inside and destroy the spaceship so that the writing can't infect anyone else."

"What do I do now?"

The Time Lady looked to him. "Bennett..."

"You keep going," Clara said, coming up on Adelaide's side. "You have to. Take it from me, there is a whole world out there. A galaxy, a life. What would O'Donnell have wanted?"

Adelaide nodded in agreement. What had kept her going even before she'd had any sort of plan. What had always kept her going when she went to her death. The knowledge that the Doctor would continue. The knowledge that if the situation were flipped Adelaide wouldn't do the same.

|C-S|

The Doctor was waiting in the TARDIS for Adelaide and Clara to arrive, standing at the console and gripping it to the point Adelaide thought he'd break something.

"What will UNIT do with the ghosts?" Clara asked them both.

"Drag the cage into space, away from the Earth's magnetic field," the Doctor explained. "With nothing to sustain them, the ghosts will eventually fade away."

Clara looked to Adelaide again. "Here's what I don't understand. You did change the future. You stopped the Fisher King from returning."

The Time Lady came to a stop on the opposite side of the console from the Doctor. "The Fisher King had been dead for a hundred and fifty years before we got here, Clara. Once I went back, I simply became a part of events. But the messages my ghost gave, they weren't for you. Either of you." A glance at the Doctor, one he returned with the gaze that could command an army. "They were for me. The list, putting you and the Doctor next, reminded me I couldn't run away." She didn't mention that she'd tried, but she had a feeling the Doctor already knew.

"And saying the chamber will open?"

"Me telling myself to get inside and when to set it for."

Clara nodded. "Smart."

"Except..." Adelaide turned to face the Doctor more. "That's not why I set them."

Clara came to a stop between the two Time Lords, taking much the same pose. "How do you mean?"

"She programmed her ghost to say them because that's what her ghost had said," the Doctor said, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly. "And the only reason she created the ghost hologram in the first place was because she saw it here. Reverse engineering the narrative."

"Okay, that's still pretty smart."

"But when did I first have the idea, Clara?" Adelaide asked.

"Well, it must have been..." the human paused. "Wow."

"Exactly." She nodded. "Who composed Beethoven's Fifth?"

The Time Lords did not smile and the universe did not sing.

 **A/N: I just couldn't see the Doctor doing what he did in the original episode here, it felt far too much like Adelaide. So I was very happy I got the chance to give her the role that was rightfully hers :)**


	9. Ripples

**Ripples**

Despite having just saved Clara from a Love Sprite as she floated untethered in outer space while also dealing with at least four battle fleets, neither Time Lord was surprised when the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS to find they'd landed in a forest at night to wipe the destroyed Love Sprite from his shoe.

There were crickets chirping, which was what Adelaide focused on – not the darkness, though the presence of that did make Adelaide draw in a breath – as Clara followed the Doctor a bit away from the TARDIS. "What's to stop them re-arming and trying again?" Clara asked him.

"Nothing. But the Velosians will be ready for them this time." He straightened, looking at the human. "It's the best we could do, Clara. I'm not actually the police, that's just what it says on the box." He gestured at the sign in question.

Clara looked between them. "You're both always talking about what you can and can't do but you never tell me the rules."

"We're time travelers." Adelaide turned, approaching them. "Tread softly. Safer to avoid even making ripples, let alone tidal waves."

Clara eyed the Doctor. "You are a tidal wave."

Both Time Lords tensed at that comment. "Don't say that."

They heard the sound of weapons being drawn a second before there were blades at their throats.

"Doctor?" Clara hissed. "Adelaide?"

"No, no, not Vikings," the Doctor groaned as they were surrounded by men holding torches and wearing the stereotypical helmets. "I'm not in the mood for Vikings."

"You're coming with us," one of the Vikings ordered.

"No, we're not," the Doctor told him. "Do you want to know why?" There was a general sense of anger from the Vikings and the Doctor put on his sonic glasses. "On my face, right now, is more advanced technology than your species will manage over the next nine million years."

Which just prompted the Viking to pull off the glasses and snap them in half. Adelaide sighed at that. "We're going with the Vikings, Doctor."

|C-S|

The Time Lords intentionally kept Clara between them as they were brought in manacles by the Vikings to their village. They'd done that a lot lately, finding excuses to not be alone together without distraction. It was easier to do that – it had always been easier to do that for them – than discuss what needed to be discussed.

Discuss what pulled at them each time they caught the other's gaze, the truth that neither of them wanted to speak.

Discuss what made them so worried that they would lose everything they'd only just managed to build, so they didn't dare push anything.

The villagers, summoned by a horn, ran to greet the returning Vikings as they entered, one girl – dressed like the other boys – in particular running up to the leader, who was wearing half of the Doctor's sonic as an eye patch. "You're back!" the girl cheered. "All of you! Are all of you back?"

"I suppose so," the leader said, "I haven't counted."

"I'm back!" one of the men cheered, hugging the girl.

"I had a dream you'd all died. It was so real, I thought I'd made it happen."

"Well, if it ever does, I'm sure you'll find some way to blame yourself." He tossed the sonic half to her.

"I wish none of you had to go!"

Clara leaned closer to the Doctor, whispering. "Plan, Doctor? Any time soon."

"I do have a plan."

"You've been saying that for the past two days," Adelaide reminded him. "On a longboat."

He shrugged. "Well, only because Clara was looking worried."

"Only because you kept saying I do have a plan."

"I do have a plan."

The human sighed. "There you go."

The three of them passed the girl, both Time Lords pausing to look at her with frowns before the warriors forced them to continue. There was a strange feeling in both of their guts, one they both couldn't quite recognize but knew was wrong.

"You alright?" Clara asked them. "Do you know her?"

Both Time Lords shook their heads. "Never seen her before in my life."

"Okay, so...why are you staring?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. Nothing, probably. Too much time travel, it happens."

She frowned. "What happens?"

"People talk about premonition as if it's something strange. It's not. It's just remembering in the wrong direction." The Time Lords exchanged a look.

"Okay, plan," Clara said.

"We meet the boss man and we do the usual."

The human raised her eyebrows. "Which is?"

"Replace him."

"Father," the Viking leader said, all of the returning Vikings greeting a village Elder.

"How?" Clara hissed.

The Doctor smirked. "To the primitive mind, advance technology can seem like magic."

Adelaide sighed again. "The yo-yo again, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's in my pocket somewhere," he nodded, struggling to reach something in his pockets as Adelaide pulled out her sonic.

"We have traveled far and fought..." the Viking continued. After a quick sonic, the Doctor held up opened manacles – done by Adelaide – and a yellow yo-yo. "...miracle, and much treasure." The Doctor threw the manacles into the air, hitting the elder in the chest. The Vikings around them drew their weapons again. "How dare you attack our Chieftain!"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "I am very, very cross with you. I am very disappointed. I have taken human form to walk among you."

The Viking stepped closer, frowning. "Who are you, old man?"

"Do you not recognize the sign of Odin?" he used the yo-yo.

"You are not Odin, and that is not Odin's sign."

The Doctor spread his arms. "Oh, and you would know that how, exactly? Have you met Odin? Do you know what Odin looks like?"

As though summoned by the Doctor speaking, there was thunder and a horn. Everyone turned to look up and the three time travelers' mouths dropped open as a face appeared in the clouds wearing a winged helmet and an eyepiece; essentially, the expected Odin appearance. "Oh, my people. I am Odin. And now your day of reward has finally dawned."

"Do not believe this foolish trickery!" the Doctor said, attempting to reel back up the yo-yo and failing. "It's supposed to do that."

"Your mightiest warriors will feast with me tonight in the halls of Valhalla."

Five large beings teleported down, large and armored. The three time travelers backed away, but the Vikings moved forward, weapons out. "Stay still," the Doctor instructed. "Stay very, very still."

Clara eyed the face. "That's not really Odin, is it?"

"He hasn't even got a yo-yo."

"So this is an invasion?"

"Shh...no, this is a harvest. The strongest, the fittest." The Doctor nodded. "The weak and young, they'll leave behind."

The aliens scanned the Vikings, teleporting a section away before moving onto the next.

"We have to help them," Clara said, shaking her head.

"We have to not get chosen," the Doctor corrected. Clara rushed over to the girl who'd been tossed the half of sonic. "Clara. Clara, no!"

"Have you still got the eye-patch thing?" The girl nodded and Clara held it up to her eye. "Point it at my chains and think the word open. Say it with your mind."

The Time Lords watched as the aliens teleported more out, finally picking up on the alien technology. "Clara!" the Doctor rushed forward. "Clara!"

But they couldn't do anything. Clara and the girl, sans shackles, were teleported away, along with the rest of the aliens and the face in the sky.

Adelaide and the Doctor looked at the spot where Clara had once been and didn't quite know what to do next.

Especially because they were alone.

"They took half the village," one of the Vikings gasped.

"Yeah, and it was the good half."

"They went willingly to Valhalla as would we all."

"I wouldn't," one of the men said, making the rest turn. "Well, I wouldn't. I'm not good with heights."

The Doctor turned to them. "Oh, stop it! All of you, stop it right now." Adelaide shot him a look, which he missed. "Homo sapiens, you're an intelligent species. Stop lying to yourselves."

One of the Vikings stepped closer. "Choose your words carefully, False Odin."

He nodded. "Yes, I am a false Odin. That's exactly right, I lied – I'm surprised Adelaide let me get away with it."

"Oh, I never said that," she corrected. "But the man in the sky lied too. You all know it."

"Because what's the one thing that gods never do? Gods never actually show up! Guess what? You got raided. Guess what else? We lost someone who matters to us."

"So did I," the man said just as Adelaide touched the Doctor's shoulder.

|C-S|

When Clara and the girl, whom they'd learned was named Ashildr, were teleported back, the Time Lords were standing off to the side not speaking. Granted, they were attempting to identify the aliens by having the Doctor look back through his diary and Adelaide attempt to remember, but even they couldn't deny that they were very pointedly not talking.

But when they heard the two return, they turned. "Clara?"

"My child!" Einarr, Ashildr's father, ran forward.

"Clara!" the Doctor did the same. "Clara! Clara!" He paused a step before her. "I'm not a hugger." Another pause. "Ahh! Let's hug!" He hugged Clara to the point that he lifted the human off her feet, making her laugh. Adelaide stepped up just as he set Clara back down, smiling at the human, who did not request a hug.

"Where are the others?" Einarr asked, looking around.

Ashildr shook her head. "I'm sorry, Father."

"I looked them up in my two-thousand-year diary," the Doctor said, holding up the diary again and making Adelaide look a bit annoyed that she hadn't been the one to identify them. "They are called the Mire."

Clara nodded. "Listen..."

"They are one of the deadliest warrior races in the entire galaxy..."

"Okay."

"But they're practical." The Doctor nodded. "You'd like them, Adelaide. They get what they want and go." He smiled at the Time Lady, who didn't return it. "You persuaded them to go, didn't you? I knew that you would."

Clara's face had fallen. "The deadliest warrior race in the galaxy?"

He shrugged. "One of them, yes. Why?"

"Because I think this village just declared war on them." Clara looked over to Ashildr.

|C-S|

The Time Lords made Clara, after she'd gotten out of the spaceship, explain what had happened when she and Ashildr were teleported.

Apparently, the girl had challenged one of the deadliest warrior races in the galaxy to battle.

"They're coming here tomorrow, ten of them, to kill everybody in the village."

Einarr turned to his daughter. "Ashildr, is this true?"

Ashildr nodded. "It's my fault."

He took her shoulder. "Not every misfortune that befalls this village is down to you." He looked to the Time Lords. "She thinks she brings us bad luck."

The Doctor frowned. "What bad luck? You haven't had any bad luck. You're fine."

One of the Vikings stepped forward. "We are about to be attacked by..."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," the Doctor waved a hand. "With a whole day to spare! So leave! Hop it, take off! Into the woods, split up, hide. Hang about there for a week, come back home, make puddings and babies. That's basically what you do, isn't it?"

"We cannot leave this village."

The Doctor turned to him. "Yes, you can. Just pick a direction. Fly like a bird, run like a nose. That's probably a Viking saying, I haven't checked that."

"No. We will fight!" The rest of the Vikings cheered that.

"Have you already forgotten that they took away all of your fighters?" Adelaide asked them. "All that's left are the farmers and fishermen."

Einarr threw a skin full of their weapons to the floor. "We are Vikings!" they cheered again.

"Okay, tell me this," the Doctor said. "How many people here have actually held a sword in battle? By a show of hands?" He and Clara raised their hands, but no one else, not even Adelaide. After all, she'd spent all of her lives running from battle. He picked up a sword. "The Mire are coming for each and every one of you." It seemed as though he'd just realized he'd picked up a weapon, tossing it back down. "So what are you going to do? Raise crops at them?"

"If necessary."

"I think he was being sarcastic."

"We're not cowards," Einarr said. "We do not run. A death in battle is a death with honor." The Vikings cheered again.

But then a baby started to cry. "Do babies die with honor?" All the Vikings went quiet and the Doctor closed his eyes. "I am afraid, Mother. Hold me, Mother. I am afraid."

"Er...he speaks Baby," Clara explained.

"Turn your face towards me, Mother, for you're...you're beautiful. And I will sing for you. I am afraid, but I will sing." He opened his eyes, looking around at the Vikings. "Babies think that laughter is singing. Did you know that? I applaud your courage, but I deplore your stupidity. And I will mourn your deaths, which will be terrifying, painful, and without honor."

Both Time Lords began to leave without speaking, but Ashildr stepped forward, stopping them. "Stay. You could help us. I know you could."

"I told you to run. That's all the help you need. And that's all the help you're getting."

They didn't look at each other as they left. Leave and always wonder what you could have done. Leave and always wonder how you could have helped. Leave and always wonder what you could have learned.

Adelaide was used to leaving battles. The Doctor wasn't.

They didn't turn when they heard Clara approach, but the Doctor did speak. "The earth is safe, humanity is not in danger. It's just one village."

"Just one village?"

Now the Doctor turned. "Suppose we saved it by some miracle. No TARDIS, one sonic. Just one village defeats the Mire. What then? Word gets around. Earth becomes a target of strategic value, and the Mire come back. And God knows what else. Ripples into tidal waves until everybody dies."

The baby was crying again. "What's it saying?"

"She..." Adelaide corrected. "She's afraid. Babies sense danger. They have to."

"Tell me."

The Doctor focused again. "Mother, I hear thunder. Mother, I hear shouting. You are my world, but I hear other worlds now. Beyond the unfolding of your smile, is there other kindness? I'm afraid. Will they be kind? The sky is crying now. Fire in the water. Fire in the water?"

The crying stopped, Adelaide looked down, and Clara touched the Doctor's cheek. "You just decided to stay. The baby stopped crying."

Stay and try to help because what did the Doctor do better than interfere?

What made Adelaide's stomach turn more than tidal waves in time?

|C-S|

Adelaide was standing apart from everyone as the Doctor attempted to teach the remaining men how to fight. She didn't really know why she was still there, though she supposed it had something to do with this not yet being a battlefield and knowing she could still leave at any time.

That she could watch the Doctor try to make tidal waves and wonder how she really felt about it.

Because while interfering was something Adelaide avoided doing at all costs, it was the reason she was willing to die for the Doctor. The reason she was willing to let him be the one who kept going. Because interfering meant helping and Adelaide knew that sometimes the universe needed that.

She just didn't know how much.

"So, when I say move, you move," the Doctor ordered, standing before the lined up remaining men near the practice dummies. "When I say jump, you say how high? Unless it's across a gap of some kind which, of course, means you jump horizontally." One of the men raised his hand. "Yes, what is it, Lofty?"

"Sorry, my name's not actually Lofty, it's Bro..."

The Doctor waved a hand. "No, it's not, it's Lofty. I've got too much to think about without everybody having their own names, so it's Lofty. You're Lofty," he pointed at each of the men as he named them, "you're Daphne, you're Noggin the Nog, ZZ Top, and you're...er...Heidi. So, we'll try that again. Lofty, what is it?"

Lofty had raised his hand again. "Sorry, sir, it's just...why aren't we practicing with real swords?"

"Yes, perhaps you'd like to field this one, Limpy?" he gestured to where one of the men was sitting to the side with a bandage on his knee. "Because we can't be trusted with them."

"That's right, yes. You'll be given your real swords back when you can prove that you can wave them around without lopping bits off yourselves." He paused, spotting the man he'd named Heidi. "Heidi, why are your eyes closed?"

"Sorry, sir. Just not that good with the sight of blood." He gestured towards Limpy.

The Doctor sighed. "No of course you're not."

The rest of the women were standing a safe distance away, though not near Adelaide. Ashildr stepped up to Clara. "Swords against those creatures. That won't work, will it?"

"He's just warming up. He hasn't got a plan yet. But he will have, and it will be spectacular." When she looked towards Adelaide, the Time Lady didn't look so certain.

|C-S|

Adelaide just sighed as the villagers attempted to put out the fire that had been started thanks to the Doctor's attempts to train non-fighter Vikings. "Well, that could have gone better," the Doctor said, close to her that time. She said nothing and he moved to stand beside Clara and the just waking unconscious Viking who was, technically, responsible. "Morning."

"What happened?"

"The Big Bang, dinosaurs, bipeds, and a mounting sense of futility."

Clara sighed. "More recently, Chuckles hit Lofty over the head, on his helmet, with his sword, which knocked him out. There was a little blood, which you saw..." Heidi fainted again, "and did that. Only, the first time you did it, you knocked a torch onto some hay, which spooked a horse, who kicked open a gate, and...er...I'm sure you can fill in the rest."

|C-S|

While the Vikings prepared for battle, the time travelers stood outside looking at the evening sky and listening to the loud crashing. "Weird sounding thunder."

"That's not thunder," the Doctor told her. "It's the weapon forges of the Mire. They're making sure we hear them."

Clara nodded. "Well?"

"Well, Heidi faints at the mention of blood, not just the sight anymore. He's actually upgraded his phobia. Chuckles, he questions every single order you give him, which is going to be a little bit difficult...a little bit tricky, in the heat of battle."

"I like him," Adelaide mumbled. "Always question orders."

Clara glanced at them both. "I keep waiting to hear what your real plan is."

"Teaching them to fight, that's the only plan I've got."

"Turning them into fighters? That's not like you."

He nodded, looking at her. "Yeah. I used to believe that too." He held Adelaide's gaze, both remembering Davros and Children of Time and turning companions into murders and having people die in his name.

Clara noticed the look the Time Lords shared. "What happened?"

"You. Oh, Clara Oswald, what have I made of you?"

It was Clara's turn to look away then. "It doesn't matter how well you train them, it's not going to make a difference."

"They'll die fighting with honor. To a Viking, that's all the difference in the world."

"A good death? Is that the best they can hope for?"

Adelaide shrugged. "A good death is the best anyone can hope for."

"Unless you happen to be immortal."

"Sorry," Ashildr said, speaking quietly as she cut into their conversation.

Clara smiled at her. "No problem."

The Doctor waved her to continue. "Night."

Clara watched the girl walk away. "You've made an impact there."

"Stop it."

"She's nice. Fight you for her. Both of you."

He shook his head. "The human race, you're obsessed. You all need to get a hobby."

"I've got a hobby, thanks. It's you two, by the way."

That made Adelaide look at her. "Get a new one."

"Not this."

"Tomorrow it's going to be a bloodbath," the Doctor began.

"Don't even ask."

"All of these people died hundreds of years before you were born, Clara."

The human shook her head. "I'm not running."

"I have a duty of care."

"No, you don't, because I never asked for that."

"Every time we do something like this, I keep thinking 'what if something happens to you?'" Because he was a selfish man. A selfish, destructive, very stupid and very foolish man. A selfish man who should know better.

"Well, stop thinking about me, and start thinking about them, because you're missing something."

Adelaide looked back at the sky. "What, exactly?"

"How you're going to win. You always miss it, both of you, right up until the last minute. So put down your sword, stop playing soldier and look for it. Start winning, you two. It's what you're good at. Especially you, Doctor."

 **A/N: Each episode of this season has me wanting to say that it will be very interesting for the Time Lords, but there is a point in this one that Adelaide will begin to use to properly define herself (points if you can guess what point ;))**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _lautaro94: The main thing that always struck me about the 12th Doctor this season was how much closer he was to the 10th Doctor in that regard - he refused to accept anything negative that the universe threw at him. If someone he cared about died or left, he refused to listen to it. He always seemed to want to fight the universe and established fact. He's very protective in that way (particularly about Clara in this season, but I've extended that to Adelaide too, for obvious reasons) I really wanted to play into that with this story because of how opposite that is to how Adelaide sees the universe. I was a bit iffy about keeping the jokes in there, but from Adelaide's perspective, at that moment she was riding high. She'd been willing to die but had found a way out of it that preserved time and helped people, which is something the Doctor has begun to influence her towards (not, of course, that she's actually realized that yet)._


	10. Waves

**Waves**

The Time Lords surprised themselves by going to Ashildr's home together. They supposed it was due to whatever strange thing they sensed upon seeing the girl, drawn by some inner obsession with mysteries. At least, that's what they liked to tell themselves.

They found the girl fighting a wooden puppet. "So, we meet again, Fake Odin. Valhalla burns around you, your army is destroyed, and now it is time for you to die!" The Doctor cleared his throat, making Ashildr turn. "How long have you been there?"

"What's that?" he moved towards it, studying her creation. "Is that a puppet? Oh, I love puppets!"

Ashildr smiled slightly. "I make puppets sometimes, when I'm..."

"Frightened?" the Doctor offered.

"When the raiding parties go out, I make up stories about their battles."

"Because if you make up the right story, then you think it will keep them safe and they'll all come home. That's okay." He smiled. "You're not the first person to ever have done that."

"Why are you here?"

"We're looking for something we're missing," Adelaide said. "What do you believe our chances are tomorrow?"

"We will be cut down like corn. By this time tomorrow, every single one of us will be dead."

The Doctor nodded, picking up a nearby book and flicking through it. "Yeah. You could go."

Ashildr shook her head. "There's nowhere for me except here. This is my place. The sky, the hills, the sea, the people." She eyed both of them, the Time Lords standing on opposite sides of the room. "Is there nowhere like that for you?"

"Oh, we like a nice view as much as anyone."

"But?"

"Can't wait for the next one."

Ashildr paused, watching them. Looking at one man who craved nothing more than to find his home and a woman who wanted nothing more than to never have one. "I pity you."

"I will mourn for you. I know which I'd prefer."

"You think they're all idiots, don't you?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What, you mean the rest of the universe? Basically, yes, we do, especially her," he nodded at Adelaide.

"But they're kind and brave, and strong, and I love them."

That made Adelaide smile. "Good. But it won't save you, or them."

"I've always been different." Both Time Lords turned more at that, words resonating with both. "All my life I've known that. The girls all thought I was a boy. The boys all said I was just a girl. My head is always full of stories. I know I'm strange. Everyone knows I'm strange. But here I'm loved. You tell me to run to save my life. I tell you that leaving this place would be death itself."

Adelaide wondered if she would have been drawn to the stars if she'd truly felt loved on Gallifrey. She'd had parents, yes, who'd cared for her. But she'd never wanted to stay because of how much they'd loved her – and, really, on Gallifrey they'd been the only ones. She'd never wanted to stay for their sake. She'd never seen leaving as a death sentence.

For Adelaide, leaving was freedom.

Einarr entered the hut, moving to embrace his daughter. "I cannot keep you safe. I do not have the strength. But I will try to till the last beat of my heart." The Doctor looked up at the sound of the baby again. "If you seek to mock me in this moment..."

"No. No. No, you go ahead and you cry all you like." He moved to the door. "Speaking of crying, is that baby getting closer?" the Doctor's eyes widened. "Why has Lofty stolen a baby?"

"That's his child," Ashildr told him.

"Oh. Where's he taking her?"

"The boathouse. He takes her to the boathouse when she won't settle. She likes the fish."

The Doctor turned back to look at Adelaide. "Why would she...fire in the water."

Adelaide frowned. "Fire in the water...fire in..."

"...the water. Fire in the water?" his eyes widened. "Fire in the water!" Adelaide's expression followed suit. "That's it. That's it. That's what I've been missing." The Doctor turned, running out of the hut with Adelaide following. "Clara, we've found it! Clara! Clara!" They followed Lofty and his child to the boathouse. "Lofty! I had no idea that was your baby. Adelaide probably knew and just didn't bother telling me." He moved closer to the baby. "Hello, baby, I had no idea this was your junior parent."

"I'm trying to settle her. She likes all the fish."

"You're shouting," Clara called, entering and thankful to still see Adelaide there. "What's happened? Did you trap your finger in something again?"

"Chuckles," Einarr and Ashildr followed Clara, "bedtime is canceled. Everybody, off the hard stuff. We've got a long night's work ahead of us. I need a blacksmith. Who's the blacksmith?"

"I'm the blacksmith," Lofty called.

"You're the blacksmith and you've got a baby too? He's been at it hammer and tongs."

Clara looked to Adelaide. "Adelaide, explain, please. What's happening?"

"There is going to be a war tomorrow," Adelaide said, sounding tense. "But thanks to what the Doctor has just found, you're going to win."

"How?"

The Doctor grinned at the child. "Ashildr, this is your village, and you will never have to leave it, I swear."

"Seriously, how?"

"I told you that we were basically doomed. Did no one in this two-horn town think to mention that you had eels?"

Clara raised her eyebrows. "Eels?"

"I give you fire in the water!" the Doctor stepped back, gesturing at a barrel that flashed with blue light. "Electric eels!" He turned to the baby, who was still crying. "Yes, yes! I know exactly how you feel. Well, not exactly."

Adelaide looked to Lofty. "She needs changing."

Clara grinned at the Doctor. "Plan, then?"

"And it is a doozy!"

|C-S|

When the Mire teleported down to the Viking village the next day, it appeared completely deserted despite some sort of sound coming from the meeting house. It was there that the aliens stomped and found the village dancing and generally having a good time.

Not seeming like they were prepared to fight to for their lives in the slightest.

The Doctor, who'd been dancing with Clara, came to a stop in front of the one with a human face. "Hey, hello, hi! I'm the Doctor. It's lovely to meet you face to...er...convincing hologram. You could always go 'zzz' and get rid of it, no? No, on second thoughts, don't. That...that suits you."

"It is time to fight."

"No, no, no," the Doctor shook his head. "We decided against that. We thought we'd just have a party!" the village cheered that.

"Let me put it another way. You fight or you die."

The Doctor turned back to him. "We're unarmed. There isn't a single weapon in this room. Which I'm sure your systems are telling you. You wouldn't open fire on unarmed civilians, would you?"

"It wouldn't be the first time." A horseshoe, mis-aimed, hit one of the Mire, making all of the aliens look up to see the jury-rigged mess of an electrical current.

"Chuckles, now!" Electricity from the eels traveled down the wires, electrocuting the four Mire they'd managed to connect to the circuit. "Run, run, run, run, run, run! That's four down, six left." What followed was the villagers scattering to avoid getting hit in any crossfire as Odin ordered the Mire forward. "Chuckles, switch!" the electricity shifted to activating magnetized anvils in the ceiling, pulling off the Mire's helmets. "Chuckles, off!" Everything fell, the Doctor catching a helmet and Clara a weapon.

"Don't move," she told them, ducking to the side again as the Mire started to attack again. The Doctor, using Adelaide's sonic, was working on the helmet. "How's it coming?"

"Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow." He grinned. "I bet that means something. It sounds great. Ashildr!" the girl ran over, taking a seat in a large chair. "Are you ready?"

"I'm scared."

"You were born for this. Show them a story they'll never forget." He put the helmet on her, stepping back to watch.

What the Mire then proceeded to see as the villagers opened the meeting house doors was a large snake-like creature hissing at them. "What is this beast? It's impossible!"

"Withdraw. Withdraw."

"Stand and fight!"

"Withdraw."

The Doctor nodded. "See how they run."

"Withdraw."

"Cowards!"

"Withdraw."

Odin was alone in the center of the room, surrounded by villagers with swords.

"That's enough, Ashildr," the Doctor said. "Story's over. Happy ending."

After all, what was actually there was a puppet built by Ashildr. "What trickery is this?"

The Doctor stepped between the villagers. "Ha! Says the man with a fake face. But you see, that's the trouble with viewing reality through technology. It's all too easy to feed in a new reality." Clara came up beside him, having gotten her phone back from Heidi. "A story to save a town, and a puppet from a nightmare. You see, you've just seen the world through the eyes of a storyteller. The mighty armies of the Mire. Brutal, sadistic, undefeated. Even I believed the stories. But after today, no one will again. An army like yours, it lives or dies on its reputation, its story. And today, you were sent packing by a handful of farmers and fishermen. Not to mention the whole wetting your pants and running away from a puppet debacle."

Clara laughed. "See, that was really funny."

"That was hilarious. It's just lucky that nobody recorded that." The Doctor grinned. "Oh. Wait a minute, we did."

Clara showed him her phone. "See, all it needed was the Benny Hill theme."

"The Benny Hill theme, yes." He looked back to Odin. "Now, you see, we could just keep this as a funny little film and play it every year at the Christmas party, or I could upload it to the galactic hub and get a second opinion. So the question you need to ask yourself is this. Just how important is your reputation to you? Here's a little sneak preview, piped straight into your helmets, free of charge."

Clara pressed a button on her phone, showing Odin the video of him and his Mire backing away from a puppet all set to the Benny Hill theme.

"If you don't leave right now," the Doctor continued, "I'll put it out there for all to see and no one will fear you again."

"This humiliation will not go unpunished. We will meet again."

The Doctor just soniced him, teleporting him away. "Oh, I hacked your teleporter. Sorry."

The villagers broke into celebration and the Doctor turned, thankful to see that Adelaide had appeared at the doors again. The Time Lady had refused to be there, even if it wasn't going to be much of a battle. Sometimes she would stand beside him and face their enemies, but she couldn't that time.

But he was thankful that she'd come back.

The celebrations, however, were soundly cut off when Einarr went over to where Ashildr was still sitting. "Ashildr..." the girl wasn't moving. "Ashildr? Ashildr!"

Clara ran over. "Get the helmet off her. Get it off, now."

Einarr pulled off the helmet, throwing it to the side, and the girl collapsed into his arms. "Ashildr?" he lowered her to the floor, letting Clara check her pulse.

"No pulse. I think..." she looked up to the Time Lords. "Is she dead?"

They didn't need to scan her to know. "I'm sorry." The Doctor whispered, backing away. "I'm really terribly sorry." He ran from the room.

Adelaide stayed where she'd been, looking down at the body of a girl who wouldn't have been dead if the Doctor hadn't been there, for only a few seconds longer before she followed him out.

|C-S|

Clara found them both in the boathouse. The Doctor was facing one of the walls, eyes closed, and Adelaide sitting against a barrel staring at the ground at her feet. "Heart failure, yeah?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I plugged her into the machine. Used her up like a battery." He sighed, looking down. "I'm so sick of losing."

"You didn't lose. You saved the town."

"I don't mean the war. I'll lose any war you like. I'm sick of losing people." He stepped away, turning to look at Clara. "Look at you, with your eyes, and your never giving up, and your anger, and your kindness. One day, the memory of that will hurt so much that I won't be able to breathe, and I'll do what I always do." He looked to Adelaide then, the Time Lady not looking at him. "What we always do." That made her look up. "I'll get in my box and I'll run and I'll run, in case all the pain ever catches up. And every place I go, it will be there."

"You did your best," Clara told him. "She died. There's nothing you can do."

"I can do anything." Adelaide stood at that statement. "There's nothing I can't do. Nothing." He looked to Adelaide again. "But I'm not supposed to. Ripples, tidal waves, rules. I'm not supposed to..." but then his eyes widened. "Oh...oh!" The Doctor touched his face, moving back to look at his reflection in the water.

"What? What's wrong?"

"My face." He touched it again.

"Doctor, what's wrong with your face?"

Again, a look at Adelaide, a look at the alien who'd once been a human who'd walked the streets of Pompeii knowing about fixed events and how much one could mettle. "I think I know why I chose it. I think I know what I'm trying to say."

Caecilus and his family. The people Donna begged him to save.

Not the whole town. Just someone.

It was foggy for Adelaide, but it was there. Hiding somewhere in the memories of a human with a faulty fob watch, drawn out as the Doctor pushed.

"I know where I got this face, and I know what it's for."

"And what's that?" Adelaide asked.

He straightened. "To remind me. To hold me to the mark. I'm the Doctor, and I save people." He looked up to the sky, to the universe itself. "And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of problem with that, to hell with you!"

There was a long moment of silence before Adelaide spoke. "There are rules for a reason."

He turned to face her fully, all Time Lord rage. But this was not the first time a Time Lord Victorious would stand before someone named Adelaide, and it would not be the last.

"And?"

"Rules of time. Rules of life. Rules of death." She stepped forward. "I don't care who you are. You do not get to break them because one girl died."

His turn to step forward, to get so close that in another time they would have kissed. "That's for me to decide."

In another time she would have slapped him. "No, Doctor, it isn't. Because you aren't the last Time Lord. You haven't been for a very long time now."

Even closer now. "Why don't you do what you do best, Adelaide: nothing." He walked away before Adelaide could say anything else. The Time Lady didn't turn to watch him leave, though Clara ran after him.

For someone who hated almost everything Time Lords stood for, Adelaide spent quite a lot of her time attempting to uphold the laws they'd held dear.

But that was just the problem. The Time Lords didn't create the laws of time. They didn't invent them.

Time was the universe's, and Adelaide protected the universe.

Which sometimes meant she did nothing even when every bone in her body wanted to help.

And was that so wrong?

|C-S|

Ashildr was lying on the bier when the Doctor and Clara returned. He ripped apart the Mire helmet and tried to pretend that Adelaide wasn't angry with him.

"What's he doing?" Einarr asked Clara.

"Saving her, I think."

The Doctor still had Adelaide's sonic, which meant there was a strange sense of irony as he finally held up a small card from the Mire helmet. "It's from the Mire helmet. Battlefield medical kit. I've reprogrammed it for human beings." He placed it on Ashildr's forehead, letting it get absorbed.

"It's gone," Einarr gasped. "It's inside her."

"It's repairing her. It will never stop repairing her, if it works." He took her hand. "Come on, Ashildr. Come on. The story's not over yet."

Einarr was stroking her hair. "Daughter, listen to me. This town has lost so much. If we lose you there'll be nothing left."

A long pause, to the point that even the Doctor was terrified that it hadn't worked, and then Ashildr gasped, her eyes flying open for a second.

"Ashildr!"

The Time Lord Victorious grinned. "She'll be conscious in a day, up and about in three. No swimming for a week. Now, we're going to need a longboat and some of your best rowers. We're two days' sail from the TARDIS." He stepped back. "Come on, Clara."

"Wait, no," Einarr called. "She'll want to see you when she waves."

"Oh, no. Well, she'll...she'll see me often enough once she understands."

"Understands what?"

"Second does." The Doctor tossed another card to Einarr.

"Will she need to take this?"

He shook his head. "No, no, no, it's not for her."

Clara frowned. "Then who's it for?"

"Er...whoever she wants."

"Doctor," Ashildr breathed, her voice quiet, "thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me yet, Ashildr. Not yet."

|C-S|

The ride back to where they left the TARDIS was one so tense that Clara could feel it in the air. She'd tried to make the Time Lords talk, but neither had spoken. Neither had looked at each other the entire time. Clara had honestly been worried about if Adelaide would come back with them at all.

"Okay, it's official," Clara said finally as they walked through the forest. "Silence is even worse in a Scottish accent. Are you going to tell me what you're brooding about?"

"It won't stop, the repair kit I put inside Ashildr, not ever. It'll just keep fixing her."

"Well, good."

The Doctor didn't look to Adelaide, but they all knew she wanted to. "I'm not sure, but it's entirely possible she has lost the ability to die."

Clara frowned. "The ability?"

"Oh, dying is an ability, believe me. Barring accidents, she may now be functionally immortal." The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS as the reached it.

"If the repair kit never stops working, then why did you give her two?"

"Immortality isn't living forever. That's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying." The Doctor looked down. "She might meet someone she can't bear to lose. That happens, I believe." They entered the TARDIS, him and Clara moving to the console and Adelaide to the stairs. "I was angry." He still wasn't looking at her. Part of him wondered if she was listening. "I was emotional. Just possibly, I have made a terrible mistake. Maybe even a tidal wave. Time will tell, it always does."

Clara smiled. "Whatever you did for Ashildr, I think she deserved it."

"Yes." He nodded. "Yes, she did. But Ashildr isn't just human anymore. There's a little piece of alien inside her, so in a way, she's...in a way, she's a hybrid."

|C-S|

Adelaide did not speak with the Doctor about what he did, and not simply because she didn't know what to say. She had to think.

Because Clara had been right. The Doctor was a tidal wave. A destructive force on the universe that was simultaneously the best thing that had ever happened to it.

Because Adelaide hated even making ripples. She loved traveling and discovering and learning, but interfering? Fighting other people's battles? She didn't do that. She couldn't do that.

She did that when she was with the Doctor because that's all the Doctor did. Fight other people's battles. Win other people's wars.

And Adelaide had to decide if she was okay with that.

Because she loved it when he saved people. She loved it when he threw caution to the wind and did the impossible. But there was a point. There would always be a point where he would go too far.

A point when he had to be stopped.

And in the big wide universe, Adelaide was the only one who could.

The Time Lady who ran from responsibility. Who ran from mistakes because that was easier than looking back. Who hid from pain and sorrow and sometimes even happiness. Who was called the Protector and the Betrayer because somehow she did both.

Somehow she was both.

Somehow she was a hybrid.

 **A/N: Given the thread of this season, couldn't help myself with the end here ;) But, really, this was a defining moment for Adelaide. She was the only person who could have stood against the Doctor and she didn't, not properly, and she regrets it.**


	11. Riptide

**Riptide**

The Doctor knew that if Adelaide knew where her own TARDIS was, she would not have still been with him. Sure, she could have walked out on any planet at any time, but her distinct inability to stay in the same place for extended periods of time – Christmas the main example – meant that she needed a TARDIS.

And she had one. The Doctor knew she had one. Somewhere close to Bath was a broken TARDIS just waiting for Adelaide to return.

For a while, he hadn't thought it possible. He hadn't thought that she'd really do it.

And then right after they dropped off Clara again after Ashildr, he found her on the TARDIS steps looking at a ring that he did not recognize. It was simple, white, with flowers painted on it.

"This is my key," she'd said quietly, one of the first times she'd spoken to him in a while. "To my TARDIS."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know." Adelaide turned the ring. "I don't remember. The last time I saw it, I was newly Caroline. And clearly, my memory is clearly quite fuzzy from then."

He crouched to be her height as she was sitting, sitting back against the console. "Do you want to find it?"

She finally looked at him again. "I'm sorry."

He frowned. "For what?"

"For falling in love."

And then he looked into her other hand and saw the bracelet he'd given her all those centuries ago. When their relationship had been fresh and new and easy.

No more.

"What do you want to do?" he was whispering. He didn't want it to be real but knew it was.

"I want you to promise me that you won't do that again." His own words back at him.

"I had no choice."

"You always have a choice." She lowered a hand, clutching the ring, the key. "There is always a choice, Doctor." A pause. "And it's not always yours. People have been sacrificing themselves for you for centuries now. It's time that you acknowledge that it was their choice. It was Rose's choice to stay. It was Caroline's. It's Clara's. We are all fully capable of making our own choices. You don't have to do everything." Another pause, another search of his gaze. "You are not alone."

No more.

The Doctor was glad that Adelaide let him hug her then. Let him kiss her.

And so was she.

They were both worried their differences would make it impossible. That their mutual anger would be too much, even now. That Adelaide would never be able to forgive him for doing it and he would never be able to forgive her for trying to stop him from helping.

But, for now, it wasn't enough. For now they could be the Time Lords Victorious, making mistakes and loving.

Just loving.

|C-S|

The fact that it was nighttime in a forest made stepping out of the TARDIS not a comfortable experience for Adelaide. Thankfully, holding the Doctor's hand was still at least partially effective at helping her stay calm, though using her sonic as a light helped far more.

The Doctor looked down at the device that he'd built as it started to beep. "Right." He turned around, a red light blinking on. "Warm." An orange light. "Warmer." They followed the signal through the trees until they reached a road.

He let go of her hand in order to climb into the coach, following the signal. Adelaide just looked around it to see the highwayman they'd clearly interrupted in the middle of a robbery. "Hello," the Doctor grinned.

"Ah! Don't shoot!"

"Oh, don't mind us, don't mind us. I'm only going to be a minute. Don't worry. Oh, very warm."

The highwayman eyed them both. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, just ignore us, we're just passing through, like fish in the night." The Doctor frowned, reconsidering the expression.

"This is a robbery!"

He climbed back out, stopping beside Adelaide. "It's not fish in the night, it's something else."

"This is my robbery."

"No...ships in the night. Yeah, something like that.

"Step aside or I shall blow your brains out."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, were you talking to us there? Try again. I promise I'll listen this time, though I'd recommend you be a bit politer if you want Adelaide to do the same."

"You have interrupted my robbery, sir and ma'am, and you will step away if you wish to take another breath."

"You're going to get us all killed if you don't shut your mouth," the coachman hissed.

He just shrugged, taking Adelaide's hand again. "Sorry. Sorry, I really was planning to listen that time but, basically..."

"He didn't."

"Usually, someone hits me at this point, but one of them has both of their hands full and the other is taking the Year 7s for Taekwondo." The device made another sound and the Doctor, pulling Adelaide along, ran to the back of the coach. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Yes! Got you!" He laughed.

Adelaide looked back at the highwayman. "This is a robbery, correct? Just so that he completely understands the situation."

"I am robbing these people. You are getting out of my way."

"We just need one tiny little thing from out of this box."

"This is my robbery!"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, can't we share it? Isn't that what robbery's all about? Sharing is caring and all that..."

"Yah! Get up!" the driver promised, taking advantage of their mutual distraction to gallop away. The Doctor groaned at that.

"You bungled my heist," the highwayman snapped.

"No, you bungled ours, Zorro!"

"Whey-faced fool!"

Adelaide looked the highwayman over. "Show us your face."

The highwayman dismounted his horse, removing the hat, kerchief, and mask to reveal the person Adelaide knew they would find. "Surprise." Ashildr's voice was normal again.

"You," the Doctor breathed.

"Yes, it is me. What took you so long, old man?"

He frowned. "Old man?"

"It seemed apt. Life expectancy is thirty-five these days. Well," she shrugged, "for everyone else."

"But didn't you know it was us?"

Ashildr nodded. "Of course. You don't forget the man who saved your life." She focused on the Doctor. "It's good to see you."

He tightened his grip on Adelaide's hand. "Yes, we didn't get that impression when you were threatening to kill us."

Ashildr deepened her voice again. "The Knightmare has a reputation to maintain."

"It's a very good voice. How do you do that?"

"Practice."

"Last time we saw you," Adelaide said, "you were founding a leper colony. The Doctor was quite proud of you."

Ashildr frowned. "Proud of me? You weren't even there."

"Yes, we were. You didn't see us, but we saw you."

"And you just left me there?"

"Well, you seemed fine."

"In a leper colony?" Ashildr shook her head. "No matter. You're here now, both of you. We should celebrate."

Adelaide shook her head. "This isn't a visit. We're searching for an alien object that shouldn't be on Earth in 1651. The Doctor's tracking device led us to the coach you were in the process of robbing."

Ashildr blinked. "You mean...you haven't come for me?"

"No." This was where Adelaide's logical bluntness overrode her preference for manners. "This is just a coincidence."

They heard a church bell in the distance as the Doctor's expression hardened. "Oh, Ashildr, I'm sorry."

"Who's Ashildr?"

"You are." His voice softened. "That's your name. Ashildr, daughter of Einarr. Chuckles. I used to call him Chuckles. Do you remember?"

Ashildr looked to the side, frowning. "Yes. I think I remember the village."

"You loved that village," Adelaide said.

"If you say so."

"Anyone in that village would have died for you."

She shrugged. "Well, they're all dead now, and here I am. So, I guess it all worked out."

"Ashildr."

She stepped back. "That's not my name. I don't even remember that name."

"What do you call yourself?" Adelaide asked her.

"Me."

"Yes, you," the Doctor nodded. "There's nobody else here."

"No. I call myself Me. All the other names I chose died with whoever knew me. Me is who I am now. No one's mother, daughter, wife. My own companion. Singular. Unattached. Alone." A pause. "Anyway, I should get started. Jump on, I'll give you both a ride. You can help me."

"With what?"

"Packing." She returned to her horse. "Come on."

|C-S|

Ashildr had quite a remarkable house, the woman herself leading them up the main drive. "It's a big place for someone who lives on their own," the Doctor commented.

"I have a servant. And all manner of visitors drop in." They entered the building through one of the side doors, moving through the corridors. "Your device, what is it?"

"My curioscanner? Oh, it..er...it sort of scans for...it scans for curios." The Doctor blinked. "I've just realized how it got its name."

"Wasn't exactly the biggest mystery in the universe," Adelaide mumbled.

"It's been tracking exoplanetary energy for the last couple of weeks. We've been following it across the galaxy."

Ashildr paused at a large chest, opening it. "And do you know what you're looking for?"

"We've got a pretty good idea, yes. Why?"

"I wasn't just robbing Lucie Fanshawe for her loot. She's bragged about having the rarest gem in the land, an ancient amulet from foreign parts. Could it be we are looking for the same prize?"

The Doctor nodded at the chest of loot. "Clearly, you don't need money. So why do you rob?"

Ashildr closed the chest again, standing. "For the adventure. Isn't that what life's all about?" She turned, bringing them through into a large library. "I've had eight hundred years of adventure, enough to fill a library if you write it down."

The Doctor picked up an old crown from a desk as they passed. "A medieval queen? How exciting."

Ashildr shrugged. "You'd think. It was paperwork and backgammon mainly, as I recall. Ended up faking my own death. Did a bunk before the evisceration." She picked up a longbow. "Now this was much more my thing." She gave it to Adelaide to study. "The Battle of Agincourt. My first stint as a man. No-one will ever know that a mere woman helped end the Hundred Years' War."

"You're immortal, not indestructible," the Doctor reminded her. "You can be hurt, killed even."

"Ten thousand hours is all it takes to master any skill. Over a hundred thousand hours and you're the best there's ever been. I don't need to be indestructible, I'm superb." She grinned. "You should have seen me. I could shoot six arrows a minute. I got so close to the enemy, I penetrated armor."

The Time Lords exchanged a look. "How many people have you killed?"

"You'll have to check my diaries." She gestured back at the bookcases.

"You can't remember?"

She caught their expressions. "For what it's worth, I've saved many lives too. I cured an entire village of scarlet fever once, almost got drowned as a witch for my troubles. Fortunately, I'm really good at holding my breath. Ungrateful peasants."

The Doctor touched the hood of a plague doctor. "The Black Death, 1348. I meant to warn you."

"I got sick, but I got better."

Adelaide nodded. "Your immune system is learning."

"There's another bout coming. And a big fire that tears through London."

"Excellent. Maybe I start it."

"No, that was the Terileptils." He looked around at the various artifacts, remnants of each of her past lives. "Surgeon, scientist, inventor, composer...it's a fantastic CV."

"You should try my journals. I read them myself now and then. Drink pomace wine, have a little me time."

"Nostalgia or curiosity?" Adelaide asked, making Ashildr smile.

"I can't remember most of it. That's the trouble with an infinite life and a normal sized memory."

Adelaide nodded. "I know how it feels." Caroline in the Library knew how it felt. And that memory stayed.

"It can't have been easy, outliving the people you love."

"According to my journals, hell."

The Doctor looked down. "Sorry."

Ashildr took a seat at her desk, narrowing her eyes. "You'll have to remind me, what's sorrow like? It all just runs out. I'm just what's left. In fact, I've done all I can here. I look up to the sky and wonder what it's like out there. Please, take me with you. All these people here, they're like smoke, they blow away in a moment. You don't know what it's like."

"We do know what it's like," the Doctor corrected.

"Then, however you fly, whatever ship you sail in, take me with you."

He frowned. "How'd you know we had a ship?"

"Because I'm incredibly clever. It doesn't matter. Take me with you."

"We'll talk about it."

"This thing you're looking for, I'll help you find it. It'll be quicker."

He shook his head. "We don't need your help."

"Yes, you do. I know where Lucie Fanshawe lives, and I'm an excellent house-breaker." She stood. "We'll leave in an hour." She closed the door behind her, leaving the Time Lords alone.

The Doctor started to pick up Ashildr's diaries, reading them aloud quietly for Adelaide. "'Today is the day I should have died. Instead, I was re-born, by my hero, a man called the Doctor...my love is dying. It broke my heart when the questions started and I knew I had to leave him. I returned to find an old man who smiles and thinks I am a dream. I am flesh and blood, my love, but all you see is a ghost."

Adelaide pulled one of the diaries out herself, finding pages torn and ink smeared. "Tears. 'The Plague. Mass graves. Sightless children clutching toys as they sleep, never to wake up. My children. My screams. I could not save you, little ones. Such pain. And yet, still, still I am not brave enough to die, to let go of this wretched life. I will endure, but no more babies. I cannot, will not, suffer such heartbreak again. From now on, it's me against the world.'" She looked up at the Doctor, who had a hand covering his face.

|C-S|

They entered the dining room just after Ashildr did the same, the woman putting out her lantern. "We read your journals," the Doctor told her. "Why are there pages missing?"

"When things get really bad, I tear the memories out."

He frowned. "What could be worse than losing your children."

She crouched before the fire, poking it. "I keep that entry to remind me not to have any more."

The Doctor watched her for a moment. "We've left you alone too long. I had no idea how much you'd suffered. But I remember, we remember, the person you used to be. She's still in there. I can help you find her."

Ashildr looked up at them. "Spare me your pity, I'm fine."

"I think this is just another mask that you wear to protect you from the pain."

"I think the alternative frightens you, that this is who I've become." And then she looked to Adelaide and the Time Lady wondered how well this immortal Viking understood her.

The Doctor tried to ignore it. "This is no way to live your life, de-sensitized to the world."

Ashildr raised her eyebrows. "So you intend to fix me? Make me feel again, then run away?" She stood. "I don't need your help, Doctor and Protector, you need mine. Just this once, neither of you can run off like you usually do."

That made Adelaide pause. "And how do you know that? We've met once in a Viking village. Neither of us gave you our life story."

"It's true though, isn't it? You're the man and woman who run away."

"Oh, who told you that?"

Ashildr held their gaze. "Maybe I just worked it out." She took her pistols from the table, putting them back in her belt. "Come on."

|C-S|

Ashildr had donned her mask again as the trio approached Fanshawe's house. Granted, Adelaide was not very happy that they were breaking in, but, as sometimes happened, her general curiosity overpowered her preference for manners.

"Housebreaks can be tricky," Ashildr mumbled.

"Not for us," the Doctor said. "Sonic technology." He nodded towards Adelaide, who didn't pull out her pen. "It should be able to deactivate any alarms."

"What's an alarm?" Ashildr asked, reaching into her pocket to pull out a wanted flyer for her highwayman persona. "The most wanted in the land."

"Now is not the time to be showing off."

Ashildr shrugged. "Now seems like a very good time to me." She slid the paper under the door and used a wire to push the key out of the lock, pulling the paper and the key back outside so that they could unlock the door. And then she held out two masks like her own to them. "You'll need masks, sidekicks. Watch and learn."

"Brought my own, thanks." The Doctor slipped on his glasses. Adelaide, after a moment, took one of the masks as she had no sort of glasses of her own.

They entered the house and the Time Lords almost immediately moved together, the Doctor taking Adelaide's hand given how incredibly dark it was.

"'Tis black as night," Ashildr commented, not seeming to have noticed how they'd reacted. "I have a tinderbox somewhere." Adelaide soniced a nearby candle to light it. "Show off." She did the same to another candle, taking one for herself and leaving one for Ashildr.

"Now, where are we going?"

Ashildr blinked. "The servant's stairs. Follow me." She brought them to a staircase.

"Why are you still alone?" the Doctor whispered. "What happened to the second immortality charge I gave you?"

"Shh..." Ashildr and Adelaide said at once, though it was Ashildr who showed the Time Lords the charge in her jacket. "No one's good enough."

"Humans need..."

Ashildr held up a hand as a light appeared at the top of the stairs. "Hush!"

They didn't move until the light faded. "Humans need shared experiences," the Doctor finished.

"I'm regretting sharing this one."

"It isn't right for you to be on your own!"

They went quiet again as a servant exited a room down the corridor, calling "goodnight, Ma'am," back inside, though she walked away without seeing any of them.

"I'll wager there's a dressing room," Ashildr said. "Come on!" she opened a door further into the hall and entered. Adelaide just managed to keep the Doctor from walking into the open door. Ashildr had moved to look through a large cabinet while the Doctor pulled out his curioscanner. "Doctor! Doctor, turn that thing off."

But he didn't, following the device to a particular drawer and the box inside. He took out the large gem with a smile. "The Eye of Hades."

|C-S|

The three of them had just started through a large open room as they made to exit the house when a door opened behind them. They hurried into the next room, closing the doors behind them to avoid detection, but they didn't really succeed because there was a man snoring quite loudly on the couch.

"Let's just go round and see if we can't get out the back," the Doctor whispered.

"Okay."

They moved forward as slowly as possible, blowing out the candles to avoid detection, but one of the floorboards creaked. "Lucie?" the man on the couch asked, making them duck to crawl. "Lucie? Lucie?" the man left the room.

The three of them stood, the Doctor moving to the side and somehow managed hit a fire iron to the floor, making quite a loud sound. Both Ashildr and Adelaide looked over at him in exasperation.

"There is an intruder on the premises!" the man called. "Bring me my blunderbuss!"

Ashildr readied her pistol. "No," Adelaide told her sharply, a hand out.

"It's kill or be killed."

"No, we can't," the Doctor agreed. "We should hide."

|C-S|

It turned out that the Doctor's idea for hiding was climbing into the chimney, though the Doctor's feet, as he was at the bottom, were still dangling into the room when the man re-entered. "Oh, I said you'd be a liability," Ashildr groaned. "Just let me shoot them and be done with it!"

"You're the liability," the Doctor snapped. "We never have this trouble with Clara."

"Oh, is she still with you, is she?"

"You remember Clara?" Adelaide asked her.

"Of course. I take particular note of anyone's weaknesses."

"Search every nook and cranny!" the man called. "I warrant they will hang for this!"

"So what's wrong with Clara, then?"

The Doctor frowned. "There's nothing wrong with her."

"Why haven't you made her immortal?"

"Well, look how you turned out," the Doctor answered before Adelaide could begin to tell Ashildr exactly why it hadn't happened and how dangerous what had happened to Ashildr actually was.

Ashildr glanced down at him. "She'll die on you both, you know. She'll blow away like smoke."

"There's no need," Adelaide said.

"How old are you both?"

"Older than you."

"And how many have you lost? How many Claras?"

|C-S|

Day had started to rise as they walked back down a path, Time Lords holding hands, which they knew that Ashildr had noticed. They'd managed to avoid continuing the conversation, though Ashildr had asked them again about the moment they'd found each other.

About the responsibility of being one of two in the universe. The expectation.

"Robbery, burglary, that's capital," the Doctor commented. "Meat and drink to the hangman, Ashildr."

"I'm not Ashildr," she corrected. "I'm Me. And I fear no hangman in Christendom."

In front of them, a man dropped from a tree. "Ah ha!"

Ashildr narrowed her eyes. "Sam Swift the Quick. I wouldn't be so bold if I were you. Don't you know who I am?"

"The Knightmare, which is why I'm not alone."

Two other men ran up, holding weapons. "'Tis barely a fair fight."

"And it was fair when you stole my patch?" Sam scoffed.

"Is that a fake nose, Sam? They should call you Sam Sniffed."

The man frowned. "What's wrong with it? It's perfectly normal, innit?"

Ashildr shrugged. "For an anteater maybe."

"Ooo! Well, never knew you were so puny, Knightmare. Or should I say, Slightmare." All three of the men laughed.

"No, not the puns," the Doctor said. "Line in the sand. No puns."

"Really?" Adelaide said. "That's what you're saying right now?"

"It's what's in my brain that counts, Bingo Boy," Ashildr said.

"Well, no brain outwits a bullet, Dandyprat." The man drew his pistol.

"This is banter. I'm against banter." A claim that received another look from Adelaide. "I'm on record on the subject of banter."

"Lay down your arms, hand over the loot, or I'll shoot," Sam ordered.

Ashildr sighed. "We better had. He'll probably aim to miss and hit one of us."

"We could give you cash instead," the Doctor offered.

"Who're they, your sidekicks? You've got your parents as sidekicks?"

The Doctor frowned. "We're not his parents, this is Adelaide and I'm the Doctor."

"Is that the best name you could come up with?"

"What, says Sam Swift the Quick? That's trying a bit too hard, isn't it? Or are you a little bit slow?"

Sam frowned. "You what?" In a single motion, Ashildr hit Sam and took his pistol, pointing it at him. "Oi!"

"I rest my case. No-one outwits the Knightmare."

Sam proceeded to attempt to take the pistol back, sending him and Ashildr to the ground to struggle for it. The accomplices moved forward and put their pistols to each of the Time Lords' heads. "If you value the life of your sidekicks, back off!" Sam managed to get his pistol, throwing Ashildr to the side, and stood. "Who's slow now, Doctor?" Ashildr kicked his feet out from under him and got the pistol back, pointing it at Sam.

"Good question," the Doctor said, the accomplices backing away.

"Please, Knightmare, I don't want to die. Let's have honor amongst us."

"Also can you confirm that we're not your parents?"

"What do you say, Dad?" Ashildr just said. "I should kill him? He'll be dead in a minute. What difference does it make?"

The Time Lords didn't even have to look at each other to answer. "Kill him and you make an enemy of us."

Ashildr paused for a moment before lowering the pistol. "Run." Sam scrambled up, grabbed his hat, and ran away with his accomplices. Ashildr picked up her own pistol again.

"I know that their lives are short, we understand," Adelaide said, "but those lives do matter."

"Shut up," Ashildr snapped. "You're not my mum."

 **A/N: The Time Lords have almost made up, but Adelaide has started thinking about her own TARDIS...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Purplestan: Thank you! Honestly, I don't care how many reviews a story has. Even if just one person followed it, I'd be happy :)_

 _lautaro94: I'm glad you liked it! What I will say about that issue is that the chapter is presenting the situation from Adelaide's perspective. Perhaps she's convinced herself that the Time Lords had nothing to do with the laws she's dedicated to upholding because she hates the Time Lords so much..._


	12. Trickle

**Trickle**

They got back to Ashildr's house after the woman in question, the Doctor thinking of Ashildr – and the mistake he made, which Adelaide was already well aware of – and Adelaide of the amulet – and her theories about it. Once they'd reached the entrance hall, Adelaide moved to the stairs, calling up. "I have a theory about the amulet."

An old man cleared his throat from the side, making them both turn. "Morning, sir, madam. Forgive me, but might I enquire into who you are?"

"The Doctor."

"Adelaide."

The man nodded. "Clayton, sir, madam." Ashildr arrived on the stairs, dressed in a rather extravagant fuchsia gown. "Would you care for a cocktail, milady?"

She smiled. "Oh, yes, please." Clayton left, coughing. "Half-blind and deaf as a post. He is no use any more really, but..."

"You keep him on," the Doctor finished. "See, you do have a heart. You don't fool me."

"How do I look?" Ashildr gestured down at her gown.

The Doctor looked her over. "Pink. Are you coming down with something? Adelaide never wears pink."

Adelaide sighed, holding up the alien artifact. "Now, Me, why would an alien artifact resemble the Eyes of Hades, King of the Underworld?" Instead of answering, Ashildr took it from her, going into the dining room.

"An ancient Greek talisman which wards off evil and protects those in death on their journey to an afterlife?" the Doctor agreed.

"You tell me." Ashildr did not sound remotely interested.

"The mythology could have originated on another planet."

Ashildr looked up to them both. "You can't wait to get going and find out, I'll wager."

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide. "No. I think we want to stick around and keep an eye on you for a while."

She raised her eyebrows. "Get me back on track?"

He shrugged. "Well, why not? Hey," he gestured between them all, "we're a good team."

"Then take me with you."

He waved a hand. "You don't want to get stuck with an old fool like me and though Adelaide's a bit better, she can be very not-fun. You have this whole wonderful planet to play on."

"It takes a day to get to Kent," Ashildr scoffed.

"In the future, you'll fly."

"I want to fly right now. I have waited longer than I should ever have lived. I have lost more than I can even remember. Please, Doctor, Adelaide, just get me out of this. I want more than this. I deserve more than this. Why not? Why not?"

Adelaide eyed her. "Because it wouldn't be good. You're not even supposed to exist." Something snarled nearby, making the Time Lords turn. "Do you have a cat?"

"It sounds like a very big cat," the Doctor said, moving to a side set of doors. "Hence the very big cat flap." He opened them, revealing some sort of alien that greatly resembled a lion, surrounded by smoke and with glowing eyes.

"Leandro, meet the Doctor and Adelaide," Ashildr greeted as the Doctor backed away. "You thought I was helping you. In fact, it was the other way round. Leandro, we have it. My friends here were as useful as I'd hoped."

The Doctor looked to Ashildr. "If somebody needed our help, why did nobody just ask? It's far politer to just ask, and Adelaide prefers for you to be polite. We are forced to assume you have plans we wouldn't approve of." He shook his head. "Oh, Ashildr."

"Stop calling me that."

The Doctor stepped in front of Adelaide, spreading his arms. "Kill me!"

Leandro frowned. "Why?"

"If you intend any harm to this planet or its people, then killing me is by far your best move." Adelaide didn't look at the Doctor, but he wished she would.

"You invite your own death?"

"No. I just want you to attack first. Then my conscience is clear."

"Of what?"

"You."

Leandro laughed. "You are not of this world, or part of my plans. I have no quarrel with you." He looked at Adelaide. "Either of you, Protector."

Adelaide's expression didn't change. "Then tell us why you are here and what you intend to do. I like to be fully informed. Afterward, you can get on with attempting to kill the Doctor, but I advise you to do so quickly and surely."

"I am from Delta Leonis. My tribe was overthrown, my world destroyed, my wife killed as we escaped."

"Using the amulet?" Adelaide nodded at it. "Your means of travel."

He nodded. "I lost it when I crashed to Earth."

"I found him in my grounds," Ashildr added. "He's been sleeping there while I searched for it."

"The Underworld, gateway to an afterlife, another reality," the Doctor said.

"We need it to open a portal, travel the galaxy."

The Doctor nodded. "Oh! Oh, so what's the plan, Ashildr? Fancy yourself as his new Queen? Hunting, running errands while he sleeps."

Ashildr rolled her eyes. "Oh, dear God. You're just like every other man. I'm not looking for a husband, you oaf. I'm looking for a horse to get me out of town. You said no."

"Oh, what? And you think you can trust him?"

"He knows what it is to be alone."

If they weren't in this situation, it was highly possible that the Doctor would have taken Adelaide's hand. "So do we."

"Then how could you do what you did?"

He was quiet and Adelaide took the chance to speak. "Why would we not approve? If you want to escape, escape. We won't stop you. But why wouldn't we approve?"

"The amulet."

She nodded. "What about it?"

"A death is required," Leandro told them. "It is the only way the amulet works."

"Yes, of course," Adelaide nodded. "Every death is, technically, a small fracture in reality. The amulet simply levers the fracture open. Primitive, but effective."

Ashildr shrugged. "It's just exploiting an abundant resource. There's so much dying here."

"So who dies so you can run away?"

Ashildr just looked to the side. "Clayton?"

"Coming, milady," Clayton called, coughing.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "No, you can't. He loves you."

"To the end, it would seem."

"Would you rather take his place?" Leandro asked the Time Lords, breathing fire and making them back away.

"Not the Doctor or Adelaide," Ashildr told him, sounding slightly panicked. "We agreed!"

"Oh, Ashildr, daughter of Einarr, what happened to you?"

The woman's face hardened as she looked to them. "You did, Doctor. You happened."

|C-S|

Ashildr tied both of the Time Lords to chairs in an adjoining storage room, doing it herself.

"We know you've suffered," the Doctor called to her as she made to leave them. "Your children dying."

Ashildr spun, eyes narrowed. "They would have died anyway. Human life is fleeting. People are mayflies, breeding and dying, repeating the same mistakes. It's boring. And I'm stuck here, abandoned by the one man and woman who should know what eternity feels like. Who should understand."

"We do, now, but..."

"You still won't take me with you. You...gad about while I trudge through the centuries, day by day, hour by hour. Do you ever think or care what happens after you've flown away? I live in the world you leave behind, because you abandoned me to it."

The Doctor frowned. "Why should I be responsible for you?"

Adelaide glanced at him. "You made her immortal, Doctor."

"I saved your life," he corrected, looking back to Ashildr. "I didn't know that your heart would rust because I kept it beating. I didn't think your conscience would need renewing, that the well of human kindness would run dry. I just wanted to save a terrified young woman's life."

"You didn't save my life, Doctor. You trapped me inside it. And now I've found someone who can set me free. Someone who understands." She turned to leave, but the Doctor called for her to stop again.

"Look, I don't know what Lenny the Lion is up to, but I know his type. Very first argument, guaranteed he'll bite your head off."

"Or I'll bite his off." She shrugged. "Perhaps I'll enjoy that."

"This is dangerous," Adelaide said. "You have no way of knowing what will come through the portal."

"That's as good a reason as any to do it."

The Doctor shook his head. "you're not like this. I know you're not."

"This is exactly what I'm like! This is what you made of me!"

"He'll kill you."

She shrugged, stepping back. "He'll have to be fast. And if he does, perhaps it's about time." There was a knocking and Ashildr stepped back, turning to it.

"Lady Me?" A man called. The Doctor, sat further from the door than Adelaide, scooted to see. Two men ran into the room, some sort of soldiers. "Oh, Lady Me, thank goodness you are safe. Sam swift has been captured and he swore the Knightmare was heading in this direction."

"I've not seen him."

The man nodded. "Sam swift will hang in Tyburn at noon."

"In half an hour?" Ashildr glanced back at the Time Lords. "A guilty man destined to die? No harm in that." Back to the men. "I have not seen the Knightmare. But these are his sidekicks, the Doctor and Adelaide. They were robbing me. I only just managed to overpower them."

One of the men looked at a scroll before looking back up to the Doctor, mainly. "You will hang for this!"

"No, listen, we were trying to help her. She tied..."

"Silence or we'll..." the other man shot at the ceiling. "Shoot."

Ashildr held up a hand. "He needn't hang. Neither of them must. But keep them both under lock and key, for all our sakes."

Another door opened and the men pointed their pistols at it, though it was only Clayton. "Was that the door? Oh, dear." He looked to the Doctor. "Always the quiet ones."

"Goodbye, Clayton." Ashildr looked back at them again. "You see? I do have a heart."

"In which case, don't do it." Ashildr just turned and left the room, leaving the Time Lords with the soldiers. "Do I look like some feckless thief?" he asked them as they approached. "I'm on your side. We're both on your side. I'm an undercover constable from Scotland Yard." He paused. "Do you have Scotland Yard yet?"

The man shook his head. "Been on the cider, have we?"

The other one untied the Doctor, pulling him up and letting him hold out the psychic paper, though they still held a pistol out at them. "The Dunbar Victory medal. I was decorated for valor in battle." The man just squinted at it.

"Tell it to the Newgate jailer."

"All we want is to bring the Knightmare to justice."

He frowned. "But you were robbing Lady Me."

"We" the Doctor gestured between himself and Adelaide "came to warn her. We fear her life is in danger." He pointed out the window, where Ashildr was driving her coach in disguise. "Look! It's the Knightmare, cloaked and in disguise, bound for Tyburn. You have to let us go, or take us there."

"You wish to hang too?"

He shrugged. "Well, will you take us there if I say yes?"

"Indeed. There's a bounty on your head for twenty pounds." He glanced at Adelaide. "None for the lady..."

"Only twenty pounds?" Adelaide asked.

He nodded. "'Tis a small fortune to us."

"Well, I know where Lady Me keeps her money," Adelaide said, nodding. "About thirty pounds.'

The men grinned. "Now why didn't you say that in the first place?"

|C-S|

They rode on horseback to Tyburn, though they abandoned it at the castle bridge once they spotted where Ashildr, Sam, and most likely Leandro were. "Sorry, yes!" the Doctor called, pushing through the crowd. "Sorry about the horse! Excuse us! Sorry, excuse us! Excuse us! Sorry!" They paused at the back of the crowd.

"Hang him!" the people started to chant. "Hang him!"

"Alright, alright," Sam called, gesturing for the crowd to quiet. "As God is my highwayman. He steals the most precious gift of all. Life. Magical, filled with adventures. And at least I can say I lived mine to the full."

"I love you, Sam Swift," a random woman called.

Sam, meanwhile, frowned, seeing the Doctor and Adelaide. "Is that the Doctor?" He grinned. "Doctor, doctor! I'm a robber."

The crowd paused, Adelaide frowned, and it took the Doctor a moment to get the joke. "Have you taken anything for it?" The crowd laughed.

"Er...doctor, doctor..."

He moved forward, leaving Adelaide at the back of the crowd. "Quick man, I'm running out of patients!"

"Have you ever seen such a sidekick so old?"

"I'm no one's sidekick."

"He's so old, he farts dust!"

"And his nose is so big that..."

"They'll have to widen the noose!"

The crowd was quite enjoying this. Adelaide was holding in her exasperation. "Or...or bury him in a pyramid."

"You know what they say, big nose..." the crowd 'ooo'ed.

"Big handkerchief!"

The crowd laughed again, but the hangman grabbed Sam to pull him back to the noose. "No! Doctor, don't leave me hanging."

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper, holding it up. "Wait! I have a pardon here for Sam Swift from Cromwell himself."

The hangman took the paper and studied it before looking back out. "Sam Swift is pardoned!"

The crowd booed that, but Sam Swift fell to his knees, extremely relieved. "We didn't come all this way not to see someone hang," a man called. "What about the Doctor?" Adelaide straightened. "Yeah, hang the Doctor. Hang the Doctor! Hang the Doctor. Hang the Doctor!"

Adelaide had been about to say something – honestly, she wasn't certain just what it would be yet, but she was working on it – when Ashildr held up a hand. "Shh." The crowd quieted. "You want to see someone die? How's this?" she held up the Eye of Hades.

"No!" the Doctor tried. "Ashildr, no! No!" The woman turned, slamming the gem into Sam's chest and making it stick. He leaped onto the stage, trying to pull Ashildr back, as Adelaide hurried forward. It shot out a ray of purple light, opening a rift in the clouds. "Purple, the color of death. His life force is opening a portal.'

Ashildr nodded. "To my new life."

"Or to Hell." The Doctor moved to the side as Adelaide reached him.

Leandro breathed fire into the crowd, forcing them back, before he joined them. "A lion man!" He pointed at the rift. "Look!"

They could just see a planet through it, reminding Adelaide of when the Time Lords had attempted to use the Master as a link to escape the Time War. "Goodbye, Doctor, Adelaide."

"You are going nowhere," Leandro snarled.

"Doors work both ways," Adelaide reminded Ashildr, small objects surrounding the planet growing more visible. "They let people out and they let the enemy in."

Ashildr frowned. "What's that? What's happened? What are those things?"

"Spaceships, or they will be," the Doctor explained. "They're coming through the rift, actualizing in this plane of reality."

Ashildr spun on Leandro. "You said you were the last of the Leonians. We were meant to escape."

"You shall. In death."

Fireballs started to shoot through the rift, exploding in the crowd. Leandro jumped down to make the crowd shatter, attacking them. "No!" Ashildr cried. "What have I done? What have I done to these people? Stop this! They are defenseless." She leaped down as well, trying to attack Leandro.

"Ashildr!" the Doctor leaped down. "He doesn't care."

The woman turned, eyes wide, full of a revelation that would take Adelaide centuries. "But I do care. Oh, God, I do. I actually do. I...I care."

The Doctor nodded. "It's awful, isn't it? It's infuriating. You think you don't care, then you fall off the wagon."

"Never mind about me. What are we going to do about them? We have to help them. They need you. They need us."

He grinned. "Welcome back."

"Well? Do something then!"

"Okay...okay..." the Doctor turned to Adelaide, who was still standing by Sam. "Theories?"

The Time Lady only took a moment. "The Eye of Hades opened up a gateway. We need to close it."

"Yeah," Ashildr nodded, "I know, but how?"

"Sam Swift is the conduit," she gestured at him. "The amulet is still in him and it's his death that's keeping the rift open. Thus, what do we need to do?"

"Reverse it."

"You cannot reverse death," Leandro snarled, hearing the conversation.

Ashildr looked down. "Oh, yes, we can." She held up the other Mire repair chip, something Leandro clearly recognized, trying to grab it.

"Run!" the Doctor prompted.

Ashildr ran up as quickly as she could, Adelaide stepping back to let her put the chip on Sam's forehead.

"No, my lady!" Leandro cried. "They will destroy me for this." The purple light changed to gold, making Leandro road. Ashildr hid behind Adelaide, the Doctor before them both on the ground. "The light of immortality. Spare me, my brothers!"

Leandro was disintegrated as the rift closed. Slowly, the crowd emerged from hiding. Sam, meanwhile, laughed. "I'm alive. I'm alive!"

|C-S|

They went to a nearby alehouse for a final goodbye to Sam. "Last thing I remember is you turning up, Doctor. Good thing too. Between you and me, I was running out of material."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, I could tell. Gave a whole new meaning to dying on stage."

"Gallows humor can be tricky, but at least there's never a second house." He looked down at their glasses. "We've nearly finished these. I'll get some more in." He stood, moving to leave, but paused to look at Ashildr. "Oh, by the way, I've not forgotten that kiss." He left them.

"Is he immortal now?" Ashildr asked the Time Lords.

"Do you want him to be?"

She looked after him. "I don't think I want anybody to be."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, probably not."

"Most likely, the power was drained by opening and reversing the portal," Adelaide added. "Enough power to bring him back, but not enough to keep him here forever." She paused. "Probably."

Ashildr eyed her. "Did you just make all of that up?"

Adelaide smiled. "It's an educated guess, but I have spent too long around the Doctor."

The Doctor grinned at her for a moment. "Keep an eye on him though. He might be around for a while. Or not. Who can say?"

Ashildr was quiet for a moment. "You're still not going to take me with you, are you?"

The Time Lords took each other's hands under the table. "People like us, we go on too long," the Doctor said. "We forget what matters. The last thing we need is more of us. We all need the mayflies. See, the mayflies, they know more than we do. They know how beautiful and precious life is because it's fleeting. Look how Sam Swift made every last moment count, right to the gallows. Look how glad he is to be alive."

"We looked into your eyes and saw our worst fears," Adelaide said quietly. "Weariness. Emptiness. Desperation."

"That's why you can't travel with me. Our perspectives are too vast. Too far away."

"We have enough difficulties on our own," Adelaide agreed.

The Doctor nodded. "You're not the first, you know. I did travel with another immortal once." He glanced at Adelaide. "You never met him. Captain Jack Harkness."

Ashildr frowned. "Who?"

He waved a hand. "He'll get round to you eventually. Who told you about me? About us? The man who comes for the battle and runs away from the fallout."

"The woman without a heart who runs from conflict and consequences."

She shrugged. "Take your pick. You've had an impact on this world. Both of you. You've made waves."

"Sometimes tidal waves."

She smiled. "I'm flattered."

"Well, you should be. You're an extraordinary woman, Ashildr." The Doctor nodded. "But I think we're going to have to keep an eye on you."

"No."

He frowned. "No?"

"Someone has to look out for the people you abandon. Who better than me?" Ashildr gestured at herself. "I'll be the patron saint of the Doctor's leftovers, and even all that fabled destruction in Adelaide's wake. While you two are busy protecting this world, I'll get busy protecting it from you." She smiled. "Protecting it from the protector, as they say."

The Doctor's expression hardened. "So are we enemies now?"

"Of course not. Enemies are never a problem. It's your friends you have to watch out for. And, my friends, I'll be watching out for you."

Adelaide actually smiled. "I thought it was a terrible mistake before but, perhaps, you'll do some good."

Ashildr grinned as well. "Oh, I think I will."

|C-S|

When Clara entered the TARDIS after her day of work, she found the Doctor alone in the upper level of the TARDIS with his guitar. The only sign Adelaide was still there was that the console was rather clean, but since Clara had honestly never traveled with the Doctor on his own she didn't know what state the console would naturally be in.

Given how much Adelaide could go on about the Doctor's mess, it seemed as though the Doctor made quite a mess.

"Hey!" she called, though he didn't turn immediately. "Hello?"

He looked up, pausing. "Oh, hello! Hi."

"Did you miss me?"

He put the guitar to the side, standing. "Be more specific. Who are you?"

Clara shook her head. "Ha, ha." She paused at the bottom of the stairs, him at the top. "I've got a present for you."

He frowned. "Why? Am I ill?"

"No."

"Are you ill?"

"No."

"Are you never going to travel with us again, because Adelaide or I – probably me – said a thing?" A confirmation that Adelaide was still there, which Clara was thankful to hear.

"It's not a good present."

"Oh, well, that's a relief." He descended the stairs, moving past her to the console.

"Okay, Evie Hubbard? Year Seven, you helped her out with her homework?" he gave no sign he recognized the girl. "Imaginary interview with Winston Churchill. You basically cheated. Said Adelaide couldn't know."

The Doctor shrugged. "That was her fault because she should have stressed imaginary. And you're right, Adelaide can't know."

"Adelaide can't know what?" the Time Lady called, entering the console room. "What have you done, Doctor?"

"Nothing!"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows as she came to a stop in front of him, eyeing him, before looking to Clara. "What is it?"

Clara grinned. "He helped a Year Seven with a project and she got an A. Sent him a selfie." She held up her phone for them to see.

The Doctor groaned. "Yes, you're right. That is not a good present."

"Why couldn't you tell me that?"

"No reason!" the Doctor took Adelaide's hand and kissed it to distract her, though it didn't really work, as Adelaide still stepped to the side to look at Clara again.

"Can I see that again, Clara?" she asked. Clara handed her the phone and Adelaide zoomed in on a specific person in the picture, one she showed the Doctor.

Ashildr, doing as she said. Protecting the earth from the Doctor and Adelaide.

"Do they make sherbet lemons anymore?" the Doctor asked instead, redirecting the conversation to the topic of potential presents. "And I'd like a Ferrari. What about a Ferrari?"

"Hmm." Clara shook her head. "I knew you'd be thrilled."

"Tell her next time, I'll take cash." He stepped away from them both to the console, Adelaide moving to join him there, though now Clara noticed she was wearing a small flowered ring.

Clara would ask her about it later.

"So, where are you going to take me?"

He shrugged. "Wherever you want."

Clara leaned back against the console. "Hmm...somewhere...somewhere magical. Somewhere new."

"Ah, there is nowhere new under the sun. Above it, on the other hand..." As the Doctor reached for someone on the console, Clara hugged him, making him pause. "I've missed you, Clara Oswald."

"Well, don't worry, daft old man. I'm not going anywhere."

The Time Lords looked at each other across the console and both felt something tighten in their throats.

 **A/N: Hm...protect from the protector. That's probably Adelaide's worst nightmare.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _lautaro94: I do really like the concept of these two episodes (and of course Maisie Williams). Adelaide is certainly a conflicted Time Lady. I honestly can't decide if Adelaide would love it or hate it there...so many mysteries, but no proper way to solve them..._


	13. Apart

**Apart**

The Doctor was sitting on a swing, alone. That on its own wasn't that surprising even when Adelaide was still traveling with him. Even the Time Lady standing off to the side underneath a tree wasn't that surprising.

What was surprising was how the Doctor felt about the entire thing.

It shouldn't have made him happy to be alone. Why would he be happy to be alone? To be without Adelaide? Granted, he wasn't really without Adelaide, she was right over there, but he couldn't see her.

He needed Adelaide. He wanted Adelaide. So why was he even the slightest bit happy about the fact that she wasn't close to him, reminding him with just a look what he had done and what she had done and every mistake boiling up between them? The Doctor had always wanted Adelaide close, even when she'd been Caroline and it'd been two faces ago for him. He'd always wanted her near him. Always wanted to touch her hand, see her eyes.

Always been terrified whenever she wasn't close to him.

But right now...something had changed.

For a Time Lord, the Doctor really didn't like change.

And he knew that Adelaide was just that bit more partial to it.

She had never feared death, regeneration. After all, it was the logical progression of events for them. Death waited for them all.

It was what permitted her to walk to it without so much of a second thought. To Adelaide, the universe had a plan, a set of laws that no one could ever hope to really understand. To Adelaide, there was no hope fighting what the universe had decided.

Fight what people decided, certainly. Adelaide had rebelled against the Time Lords just as much as the Doctor. She would always rebel against wrongdoings because that wasn't the universe, that was petty people making mistakes. She wouldn't interfere – Adelaide hated interfering – but she would rebel.

But when it came to the universe, when it came to life and death and fixed events...Adelaide didn't even dream of touching anything. She didn't dream of altering anything.

In her mind, there was nothing to alter.

The Doctor disagreed.

Right now, he was in the process of watching a group of children being corralled by two teachers while Adelaide was, again, attempting to contact their human companion – Clara was their companion, after all.

Amy and Rory had been the Doctor's only, really, as much as they'd been friends with Adelaide. But Clara was Adelaide's first companion. Her first assistant.

"Hi, this is Clara Oswald," Clara's message began, Adelaide turning away from the tree as she listened. "I'm probably on the Tube or in outer space. Leave a message!" A beep.

"Hello, Clara, this is Adelaide. The Doctor and I are in your relative time currently staking out some extremely dangerous creatures." As she watched, two of the children stopped and focused their attention on the Doctor. "We're operating under deep cover – he's going by 'Doctor Disco' – and attempting not to attract suspicion. Call me back, Clara. Nightmare Scenario." She hung up and joined the Doctor just as he was following the girls to the monkey bars, though Adelaide stayed on the ground.

"Okay," he said, looking between them. "Hey, Monster High and Cinderella. Down off the monkey bars. Listen to me. We've got to talk." The girls didn't move. "Look, I admire you, okay? We both do. We think you're ingenious. Pretending to be a couple of seven-year-olds is a splendid way to conceal your blobbiness. But let's not pretend. You're very blobby. In fact, you two are the big blobs. And you are not patrolling the ceasefire." The girls climbed down from the monkey bars and the Doctor followed them down via the slide. "Fine. Fine, bury your heads. Listen to me. Listen! There are other factions. I know that there are other blobby factions that you don't control. They're planning something. And if we don't get together and stop it, it'll be the end of this. Of all of you."

"This is our jurisdiction, Doctor," one of the girl's said. "These are our creatures. We are close to finding them."

"They are our children, and we will deal with them."

The Doctor shook his head. "Your kids are out of control. I'm taking this out of your hands." A thing Adelaide wasn't happy to do but knew the Doctor, as President of the World, technically could. Her phone rang and the Doctor pointed at the girls. "Don't even think about going anywhere."

"Hello, Kate," Adelaide said, stepping away to answer the phone. "I trust this is an actual distress signal?" Kate had accidentally dialed them before.

"An actual distress signal," the woman repeated. "They've kidnapped Osgood and they've stolen the location of every Zygon on Earth. Adelaide, the ceasefire's broken down."

She was startled by the Doctor shouting, making her spin. Red gas had started spreading from a canister that Adelaide hadn't noticed before. "Hey! Away! Away! Get those kids out of the way! Out of the way! Out of the way! Out of the way! Move! Out of the way!"

Two Zygon emerged through the cloud, grabbing the girls and shoving them into a van before driving off, leaving behind only a sigil. The Time Lords didn't stop to talk before running back to the TARDIS.

|C-S|

The Time Lords managed to get Clara and found that Kate had already sent her a car to bring them to what could best be described as the conflict. Adelaide was quite thankful to have Clara with them again.

The Doctor was nice to be around, certainly, but Adelaide always felt a certain responsibility for him when it was just the two of them. With Clara around, Adelaide didn't have to worry so much about him insulting and interfering.

At least, that's what she kept attempting to tell herself.

Kate was waiting for them when the car pulled up outside the school. "This is where the Zygon High Command had their secret base," she explained.

"A junior school?" Clara asked, glancing at the Time Lords.

Kate opened the door for them, bringing them to a wall collage of the children. The Time Lords recognized the two kidnapped Zygon high commanders. "Terms of settlement, Operation Double, were these. Twenty million Zygons, the entire hatchery, were allowed to be born and to stay on Earth. They were permitted to permanently take up the form of the nearest available human beings."

Her assistant, a woman named Jac, nodded. "In this case, a large percentage of the population of the UK."

Kate turned, bringing them down the corridor. "You left us with an impossible situation, Doctor, Adelaide."

"Yes, I know," the Doctor nodded. "It's called peace. What about the two little girl commanders? Weren't they helping you?"

"They've been almost impossible to deal with since Osgood left." They stopped outside of the boiler room. "Secretive, uncommunicative. We've known there's something going on. Some radicalization, some revolution in the younger brood. They said they had it under control." She used a small keyboard to the side to open the wall, bringing them through into the actual Zygon command center.

"That is the control polyp for all Zygons on Earth," Adelaide told Clara. "This is the Zygon command center."

Jac made a face. "It's horrible." She looked at Adelaide. "Sorry."

"Could you? Would you mind?" the Doctor held his torch to Clara, and she took it. "Thank you." He went to the polyp and splashed the liquid in the center onto the fronds and caressed a few of the horns. "If this has been compromised, the Zygons are wide open. They'll be starting to panic. Starting to worry."

"Doctor, maybe don't fondle the...pronds in front of Adelaide."

"It is the command computer," Adelaide said. "It is operated by 'titivating the fronds'."

Clara smirked. "He looks like he's enjoying it."

Adelaide sighed as the Doctor managed to bring up the screens, cheering in success.

"So, Osgood's been kidnapped, right?" Clara asked. "I thought Osgood was dead."

"There've always been two of her, ever since the ceasefire," Kate said. "We never knew which one was real."

"Both of them," Adelaide said.

"Okay, which one was Zygon."

"Both of them." Kate looked at her. "I believe they would have maintained a live link, thus being both Zygon and human at once."

The Doctor nodded. "They not only administered the peace, they were the peace."

"When the other Osgood died, the survivor went pretty much mad with grief. Then she just disappeared. Went undercover in the States. Now, of course, the rebels have her."

"Ah ha!" the Doctor cheered, bringing up a map. "Okay. Zygons hatched and dispersed all over, but something's gone wrong. Mexico border, North Asia, West Africa, Australia. Panic. Paranoia. What would happen if they knew who we were?"

Jac's computer beeped, making her look down. "We've received another video."

They all gathered around the tablet, Kate nodding at the view. "That's the Zygon High Command. It's Jemima and Claudette."

"We have been betrayed," a Zygon in the video said. "We were sold. Our rights were violated. We demand the right to be ourselves. Normalize. Normalize!" Jemima and Claudette became Zygons again and were killed by two other Zygon, replaced by a new one. "We are now the Zygon High Command. All traitors will die. Truth or consequences."

The video ended.

"So, we have a Zygon revolution on our hands," the Doctor said, looking to Kate. "We need to open negotiations."

Kate shook her head. "I'm not negotiating with them. As far as they're concerned, everyone's a traitor."

Clara frowned at her. "If you're not going to negotiate, what are you going to do?"

"They're holed up in this settlement in Turmezistan. It's where they've taken Osgood. I'm going to order Colonel Walsh to bomb it."

The Doctor signed at that statement. "Isn't there a solution that doesn't involve bombing everyone?"

"The treaty's been comprehensively violated, Doctor."

"This is a splinter group. The rest of the Zygons, the vast majority, they want to live in peace. You start bombing them, you'll radicalize the lot. That's exactly what the splinter group wants."

"'Truth or consequences'," Jac repeated. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It's the usual kind of nonsense these idiots call themselves."

Clara glanced at Adelaide when the Time Lady said nothing. "It's in New Mexico."

"What?"

"It's a town in New Mexico. Truth or Consequences." Everyone but Adelaide looked at her in confusion. "Er...they renamed it after a TV show, for a bet or something. It's a Trivial Pursuit question. I used to memorize Trivial Pursuit questions so I could win."

The Doctor looked to Adelaide. "That sounds like something you'd do." Adelaide ignored him.

Kate frowned. "That's the last place we received signal from Osgood's phone, isn't it? New Mexico."

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Okay. Kate Stewart, no bombs for you. Go to Truth Or Consequences. See what you can find out. The Doctor will go to Turmezistan. Negotiate peace, rescue Osgood, and prevent this war, cos that's what he does. Clara, Jac, you stay here. This is your country. Protect it from the scary monsters. And also from the Zygons. And Adelaide..." he paused looking at her. Knowing that she wouldn't pick the battlefield he was going to. "You can pick."

Adelaide didn't need that long. "I will go with Kate."

Immediately, Clara knew that something was still wrong with the two Time Lords. Sure, they were different people and Adelaide would never have been happy about going with Kate, but...Clara had never actually seen them happy to be split up. Every time one of their adventures led to the Time Lords being apart, they did everything in their power to get back together.

They didn't do it voluntarily.

But here Adelaide was, looking the Doctor in the eyes and picking somewhere else.

Granted, it would be healthier if they were actually able to be apart without worrying so much, but Clara could tell that wasn't what this does. There was nothing happy or comfortable about either of their expressions.

"Oh," the Doctor said, looking to the side and forcing himself to direct his attention away from Adelaide, "and do you still have the presidential aircraft?"

"I thought you didn't like being President of the World."

He shrugged. "No, but I like poncing about in the big plane."

|C-S|

Before the Doctor disappeared into the plane, he paused on the steps and posed, though the action amused none of the women watching.

"How many troops do you have?" Clara asked, speaking a bit quiet due to Adelaide still standing right there.

"Not many. Usually on bigger cases we can draft in from the regular army. We can't do that now. The secrecy of the project has to be maintained."

Clara glanced at her. "You got any snazzy weapons?"

Kate allowed herself a small smile at phrasing. "There was an attempted Zygon invasion before, in the seventies, eighties. One of our staff was a naval surgeon. Worked at Porton Down on the captured Zygons. Developed Zee-67. It's a nerve gas. Unwravels their DNA. Basically turns them inside out."

She nodded. "Where do you keep it?"

"We don't. It was taken. The formula, the lot."

"Taken by someone in a TARDIS," Adelaide said.

Clara looked at her sharply. "Did you two agree on it?"

"It was interference." She let the conclusion on her opinion be drawn by them.

Jac stepped up. "They're ready for you, Madam Secretary, ma'am."

Kate nodded at Clara. "Keep in touch." Both she and Adelaide climbed into the truck that had pulled up.

|C-S|

There was no evidence that there was anyone alive left in the small New Mexican town. Adelaide was the first one out of the car when it stopped, map in hand, while Kate emerged with her gun. She'd offered Adelaide one, but the Time Lady had given her a look and unfolded the map instead.

The Doctor may pick up guns if the situation was dangerous enough, but the two of them were not the same in that regard. In Adelaide's universe, scientists had no purpose holding weapons.

As Adelaide moved through the city, Kate paused for a moment at some graffiti before following. Zygon presence was clear from the next graffiti Adelaide found, the same rebel symbol from the video.

Together – Kate, silently, pushed in front of the Time Lady – they entered the police station, which still had a car parked out front. The inside was a mess, clearly the result of a serious struggle.

"Hello?" Kate called out. "Hello?" They moved in further, both coming up to a large notice board. Kate stepped up to a picture of Osgood from above.

They both turned when they heard a gun cock. It was someone who, at least, looked like a policewoman. "You two some of them?"

"We're friends," Kate said. Adelaide let her be the one to speak. "We've come to help."

"Alone?" the woman looked between them. "Have you come to help alone?"

"What happened here?"

The woman moved closer. "You must have brought backup. Where's your backup? Tell me!"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "And why would we need that?"

|C-S|

They managed to get the woman, who'd eventually introduced herself as Norlander, to calm down enough to talk to them without pointing a gun. Adelaide felt that was an effect of not having the Doctor there and wondered, briefly, if he was safe.

Whatever Norlander had just been doing made her thirsty and she got herself a drink after giving Adelaide and Kate permission to look through the files.

"The Brits came two years ago. We didn't want them. They just...they just turned up. No jobs. Nowhere to live. No money. And they were...they were odd. They started getting into fights. Couple of them got killed."

Kate showed Adelaide a file she'd found, the Time Lady moving closer to read it. "More than a couple. What happened here?" Kate showed Norlander a page.

"After the murders, they started banding together. And then, one day, one of them changed."

Adelaide glanced up. "Changed?"

"One of them was walking down West Main, and suddenly, it turned into a...a reptile." Kate showed Adelaide a sketch someone had done of a Zygon. "They just came for us. They turned into monsters and they came for us. And...and we couldn't fight them. You can't tell who's who. They can turn your own family against you."

Kate showed Norlander a picture of Osgood on her phone. "Have you seen her?"

Norlander nodded. "Yeah, she was here. She was at the motel, asking questions. Before." She looked away. "Everybody's gone."

That made Kate look at her. "Where?"

Norlander gestured for them to follow and while Kate moved to, Adelaide didn't. Kate looked back but didn't say anything, only followed the other woman out.

Adelaide took the chance to pause and take a breath.

It was infuriating to care about the Doctor so much. Adelaide had always felt that, honestly, given how much trouble the Time Lord kept getting himself into. The Doctor was an annoying man to care about, let alone love.

It was odd to have finally admitted that she was still in love with him, even after everything he'd done, especially with Ashildr.

Ashildr...Me...Adelaide's worst nightmare. Adelaide should hate the Doctor for what he'd done. And she did. She really hated him.

And she hated herself for still loving him despite that. For trusting that he really regretted it and wouldn't do it again.

When she wasn't around him, she could maintain the hate, the logical response to what he'd done. But the moment she saw him again, it was overwhelmed by love, mixing together until she couldn't tell where one emotion stopped and the other began.

Kate returned without Norlander, shocking Adelaide into looking through the files again, as though nothing had happened. "She needed another drink."

"What did she show you?"

"The Zygons victims were in a dumpster."

"The whole town?"

"It wouldn't fit there."

Norlander returned. "There's hundreds more. They killed everybody."

"Is there any indication of what forms they took and how many of them there were?" Adelaide asked. "When did it start?"

"Somebody once caught the briefest of glimpses of a Zygon in its proper form. A child who hadn't learned to preserve its body print, who had been left alone to learn these things for itself. And then word went round these primitives that we were monsters."

Kate and Adelaide looked up sharply at that, eyes wide. "We?"

"There isn't any backup, is there? I just had to be sure."

And then Norlander was a Zygon and was reaching forward and Adelaide's only thought was of the Doctor.

 **A/N: Since the Doctor was heading to an actual battlefield, couldn't very well have Adelaide there. If only she wasn't so distracted by thoughts of how she felt about the Doctor...**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _lautaro94: Very true, Adelaide would not like magic :)_


	14. Alone

**Alone**

"I still don't agree with weapons." Adelaide broke the silence that had fallen after the remains of Kate's gunshots had faded. The woman had acted quickly, firing five rounds into the Zygon before either of them were injured. "I trust she didn't show you where the rest of the Zygons here were?"

"I'm surprised you're trusting that I'm not a Zygon."

"I could say the same about you."

The two looked at each other before Kate put away her weapon. "Ready to go hunt for some Zygons?"

Adelaide grimaced.

|C-S|

It wasn't that difficult to convince the Zygons that Kate was a 'Zygon' with Adelaide as a prisoner. Since there'd only been one Zygon, only one of them could have been 'captured', and they decided even Zygons would believe that it wasn't wise to try and imitate one of the last Time Lords. Zygons were advanced, but Time Lords were even further than anything they could imagine.

The Zygons believed it and, thankfully, since their plan involved the Doctor having no idea that anything out of the ordinary had happened in New Mexico, Adelaide was permitted to walk free, though surrounded by Zygons transformed into UNIT soldiers.

They returned to England with their entourage of Zygon guards. Kate called Zygon High Command. "North America reporting back to High Command."

Adelaide could hear the call. It sounded like Clara. The companion had been captured and replaced with the Zygon high commander. "I'm going to the Black Archive. I'll open it up, you will follow."

"Of course."

"But first, locate the Doctor. Use Adelaide to lure him into security and kill him. Then kill her."

Kate smiled because Zygons would. "It will be my pleasure."

|C-S|

Adelaide had never been quite so glad to hear the Doctor's voice.

"Unmask everyone, provoke fear, paranoia, provoke a war," he was saying, explaining something to someone.

"Doctor." Kate's voice made the Doctor turn. He looked at Adelaide immediately. Adelaide couldn't tell if he looked relieved. She supposed she displayed a similar expression.

He'd found Osgood. "Kate! Adelaide! Are you both all right?"

Kate nodded. "Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It's just I'd heard otherwise."

"We're fine, Doctor," Adelaide said. "We've learned where the Zygon command center is and where Clara's pod is."

The Doctor looked at Osgood. "Well, how very convenient, because that's just exactly what we're looking for." He looked at Adelaide again and neither smiled.

|C-S|

The cave that formed the Zygon command center was large and filled to bursting with pods. The Doctor looked around with a nod, seeming impressed. "Well, they like a good cave, don't they?" He moved closer to one of the pods. "How many of these pods are occupied?"

Kate shook her head. "We don't know."

"Which one is Clara's?"

Kate moved closer to a particular one and frowned. Adelaide thought she was doing quite a good job at both being surprised and not. "Well, that's strange. It was here before."

Osgood looked to the Zygons that currently looked like UNIT soldiers. "Doctor, I think they're Zygons." In response, the actual Zygons transformed into their true selves.

He grinned. "Oh, you cheeky little monkeys!"

Kate pulled out the Zygon communicator again. "The Doctor is here."

"Don't kill him," the commander said. "We need him alive."

"What for?"

"Because I just found out why it's called an Osgood box. There's two of them."

Adelaide looked at the Doctor sharply then. "Doctor..." She'd stayed out of the negotiations and plans for Zygons living on Earth beyond knowing that a large population of the aliens were going to be sharing the planet with humans. There was a reason the Zygons needed the Doctor even though they had Adelaide. They knew she knew nothing. She didn't even know there was a box.

"Two Osgoods, two boxes. Operation Double." The Doctor shrugged. "What did you expect?"

"What's in them, Doctor? Tell me. Now!"

"One box normalizes all the Zygons," Adelaide reasoned.

"And the other?"

The Doctor gestured to Adelaide to finish. "Destroys them."

The commander snarled. "Which is which?"

He shrugged again. "Ah, that would be telling."

For a moment, the commander put down the phone and moved somewhere, but she held up the video component again shortly. She had the human Clara. "Which box normalizes the Zygons, Doctor? Tell me, or she dies."

"No. This is war. You pull the trigger, you pay the price."

"Kill her." The Zygons surrounding Clara put their hands to her head.

The Doctor looked at Adelaide when he interjected. "The blue one! The blue one! The blue one normalizes all your people."

The Zygons didn't move from Clara, but the commander did move to place her hand over the blue button, preparing to press it. But she paused. "Are you lying? Are you lying to me, Doctor?"

"He's not," Adelaide said.

The Doctor nodded. "And when you open up the box, you'll see I'm not lying."

The commander hit the top of the box, opening it. Adelaide kept watching the Doctor as she saw whatever was there. She hadn't wanted to know what he'd done because there was no need for her to interfere in that way, but now she was regretting it.

Now she was experiencing not knowing. Adelaide didn't like not knowing.

"Doctor? Doctor!"

"Yeah, I know."

"Bring him to me!"

The Zygons advanced on the Doctor and Osgood but before they got any far, Kate made another case for weapons by shooting both of them. The Doctor looked terrified, Adelaide annoyed. "Sorry, Doctor," Kate said, lowering the weapon. "Self-defense."

"You're you," he said.

Kate nodded. "I'm me."

The Doctor looked to Adelaide. "And you're you?"

"Your observation skills have improved significantly since we parted, Doctor."

"How did you survive?"

"Five rounds rapid. I'm sorry, Doctor. I know you don't approve."

He shook his head, running a hand down his face. "Why does peacekeeping always involve killing?" Kate crushed the Zygon communicator. "Is this the lot?"

"There's more," Adelaide said. "They were the nearest."

Kate looked at Osgood. "You are you?"

"I'm me."

"But human or Zygon?"

"Me."

"What are we dealing with?"

"Twenty million Zygons about to be unmasked. You don't know whether they are human or not. And you can't fight them, not with soldiers."

Kate looked between the Time Lords, though she focused on the Doctor. "Which leads me to a very big question."

The Doctor sighed. "Oh, I was really hoping that it wouldn't."

"The Zee-67, Sullivan's gas, the gas that kills the Zygons. You took it."

"Well, you know how it is. Daddy knows best."

"That's what's in the red box, yes?" Kate looked between the Time Lords again. "Of course it is. If I remember rightly, it causes a chain reaction in the atmosphere. Turns every Zygon on Earth inside out."

"Let me negotiate peace. You can't commit mass murder-"

"Then why did you leave the gas with us?"

"Boxes are safeguards for both species," Adelaide reasoned.

The Doctor nodded. "You agreed to that."

Kate frowned. "I never agreed to that."

"Yes, you did, then I wiped your memory. And before you try to turn Adelaide to your side, you agreed to that, too." He looked to Osgood. "But that's why there were two Osgoods to police the ceasefire. One human and one Zygon, to keep the secrets and keep the peace."

Kate crossed her arms, shook her head. "I'm sorry, Doctor. Truly. But the peace is failing already." She moved back. "Come on."

The Time Lords moved and let their fingers drift together for a moment, before separating.

|C-S|

The Zygons allowed them access to the Black Archives and Adelaide avoided looking at the wall of the Doctor's previous companions.

He leaped into the room the commander was in with a grin and a wave. "Hi! Hello! Hello!" the Zygons around Clara grabbed her. "oh, hello! Hi. Hi. Stop this." He stopped opposite the table from the commander. "Stop this, please. Let me take both of these boxes away. We'll forgive, we'll forget. And the ceasefire will stand."

The commander shook her head. "No."

Kate went to the red box. Adelaide stood behind the Doctor. "Doctor, which of these buttons do I press?" The Time Lord didn't answer. "Doctor, which one? Truth or consequences?"

The commander matched the human. "Truth or consequences?"

The Time Lords looked to each other and the Doctor stepped forward. Adelaide stepped back. "This is the moment we've all been waiting for. Make your mind up time!" He put on an American accent. "One of those buttons will destroy the Zygons, release the imbecile's gas. The other one detonates the nuclear warhead under the Black Archive. It'll destroy everyone in London." Adelaide put a hand on her face. He turned to the Zygon. "Bonnie. Bonnie, sweetheart!" Back to both. "One of those buttons will unmask every Zygon in the world. The other one cancels their ability to change form. I'll make them human beings forever." He lost the accent. "There are safeguards beyond safeguards. I did this on a very important day for me, for both of us," he gestured back at Adelaide, "and this ceasefire will stand."

"This is wrong."

The Doctor looked to the commander. "No, it's not."

"You are responsible for all the violence. All the suffering."

He shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes. You engineered this situation, Doctor. This is your fault."

Adelaide wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

"No, it's not. It's your fault."

"I had to do what I've done."

He shrugged. "So did I."

"We've been treated like cattle."

"So what."

"We've been left to fend for ourselves.'

"So's everyone."

"It's not fair."

The Doctor threw up his arms. "Oh, it's not fair! Oh, I didn't realize that it was not fair! Well, you know what? My TARDIS doesn't work properly and I don't have my own personal tailor."

"The things don't equate."

He looked back at Adelaide as though he expected her to say something to help him. The Time Lady was silent. "These things have happened, Zygella." He turned back to the commander. "They are facts. You just want cruelty to beget cruelty. You're not superior to people who are cruel to you, you're just a whole bunch of new cruel people. A whole bunch of new cruel people being cruel to some other people, who'll end up being cruel to you. The only way anyone can live in peace," back at Adelaide, for a moment, "is if they're prepared to forgive. Why don't you break the cycle?"

The commander frowned. "Why should we?"

Adelaide shook her head and stepped forward. "Do you actually know what you want?"

It took the Zygon a time to determine an answer. "War."

The Doctor nodded, stepped back, and looked tired. "Ah. Ah, right. And when this war is over, when you have a homeland free from humans, what do you think it's going to be like? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you given it any consideration? Because you're very close to getting what you want. What's it going to be like? Paint us a picture. Are you going to live in houses? Do you want people to go to work? Will there be holidays? Oh! Will there be music? Do you think people will be allowed to play violins? Who's going to make the violins? Well? Oh, you don't actually know, do you? Because, like every other tantrumming child in history, Bonnie, you don't actually know what you want. So, let me ask you a question about this brave new world of yours. When you've killed all the bad guys, and when it's all perfect and just and fair, when you have finally got it exactly the way you want it, what are you going to do with the people like you? The troublemakers. The renegades. How are you going to protect your glorious revolution from the next one?"

The commander nodded as though her answer was definitive. "We'll will."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Perhaps, but nobody wins for long. The universe keeps moving. The wheel keeps turning."

The Doctor gestured at her in support. "So, come on. Break the cycle."

"Why are you still talking?"

He held out his hands to her. He was getting desperate. "Because I want you to see, and I'm almost there!"

"Do you know what I see, Doctor? A box." The commander nodded at it. "A box with everything I need. A fifty percent chance."

"For us, too," Kate said, matching the commander by putting her hand over the button.

The Doctor brought back his American accent. "And we're off! Fingers on buzzers! Are you feeling lucky? Are you ready to play the game? Who's going to be quickest? Who's going to be luckiest?"

"This is not a game!"

"No, it's not a game, sweetheart, and I mean that sincerely."

The commander frowned at him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Yes," Kate nodded, "I'd quite like to know that, too. You set this up. Why?"

And then the Doctor turned to Adelaide for the Time Lady to provide an answer. "Because it is not a game. This," she nodded between the boxes, "is a scale model of war. Every war is the same."

The Doctor blew kisses to her. "When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to do from the very beginning. Sit down and talk!" He stopped and sighed, looking tired again. "Listen to me. Listen, I just...I just want you to think. Do you know what thinking is? Adelaide loves it; it's just a fancy word for changing your mind."

The commander furrowed her brow. "I will not change my mind."

"Then you will die stupid. Alternatively, you could step away from that box, you can walk right out of that door and you could stand your revolution down."

"No! I'm not stopping this, Doctor. I started it. I will not stop it. You think they'll let me go, after what I've done?"

"You're all the same, you screaming kids. You know that? 'Look at me, I'm unforgivable'. Well, here's the unforeseeable. I forgive you. After all you've done, I forgive you."

The commander had started to cry. "You don't understand. You will never understand."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "I don't understand? Are you kidding? Me? Of course I understand. I mean, do you call this a war? This funny little thing? This is not a war! I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know. I did worse things than you could ever imagine. And when I close my eyes I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count! And do you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight till it burns your hand, and you say this. No one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will have to feel this pain. Not on my watch!"

The room was still, but Kate did step back from her box, closing the lid.

The Doctor reached out his hands to her. "Thank you. Thank you."

"I'm sorry."

"I know. I know. Thank you." He turned to the commander. "Well?"

The pause was longer for the commander. "It's empty, isn't it? Both boxes. There's nothing in them. Just buttons."

The Doctor nodded. "Of course. And do you know how you know that? Because you've started to think like me." He looked at Adelaide. "Like us." The commander dropped her hand, stepping back. "It's hell, isn't it? No one should have to think like that. And no one will. Not on our watch." The commander looked at him. "Gotcha."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you have a disadvantage, Zygella. I know that face."

Kate nodded. "This is all very well, but we know the boxes are empty now. We can't forget that."

Adelaide looked to the human. "It is remarkable that you've said that for the past fifteen times." She forced a smile.

The Doctor looked at Adelaide like he was proud before sonicing the memory filter in the ceiling. After a flash of white light, the room was still, Kate now unconscious against the rack behind her. The Time Lord turned to Adelaide. "You made a joke."

"I'd recommend focusing on the commander," she said with a nod.

The commander had closed the box, looking down. "You didn't wipe my memory."

"No, just Kate's," the Doctor confirmed. "Oh, and your little friend's here, of course." He gestured back at the Zygons that had been guarding Clara. "When they wake up, they won't remember what you've done. It'll be our secret."

"You're going to protect me?"

Osgood, who'd knelt to check on Kate, straightened. "You're one of us now, whether you like it, or not."

"I don't understand how you could just forgive me."

"Because he's been where you were," Adelaide told her. "There was another box. He was going to press another button. He was going to kill all of our people. Every last man, woman, and child."

"I was so sure I was right."

The commander looked between them. "What happened?"

"The same thing that happened to you." The Doctor glanced back at his companion. "I let Clara Oswald get inside my head." The human smiled. "Trust me. She doesn't leave." He stepped up to Adelaide, taking her hand. "Having Adelaide with you doesn't hurt either."

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide walked to the TARDIS holding hands, Clara and Osgood behind them. Osgood let out a breath when she saw it. "The TARDIS."

He nodded. "The TARDIS."

"What does it stand for?"

He looked at her. "What? You're kidding me? Surely you know that?"

"Well, I've heard a couple of different versions."

"I made it up from the initials." He leaned to Osgood to stage-whisper because of how close Adelaide was. "It stands for Totally And Radically Driving In Space." The Time Lady rolled her eyes as he returned to her side. "Do you want to come? All of the future, all of history, and all of the universe?"

Osgood looked the box over. "More than anything. But I think I have to stay. I've got a couple of boxes to keep an eye on. And a world to keep safe."

The Doctor shrugged. "Fair enough. Clara, would you mind...er..."

Clara raised her eyebrows. "Mind what?"

"We'll see you in the TARDIS, okay?"

Clara looked at him but nodded. "Er...yeah, sure." She hugged Osgood. "Take care, you."

"You take care of them. Don't let them die or anything."

"What if either of them are really annoying?"

Osgood laughed. "Then fine."

"Got ya." The human stepped into the TARDIS.

The Doctor took a moment to think, squeezing Adelaide's hand, before turning to Osgood. But in a manner that surprised both of them, it was Adelaide who spoke first. "I have a question, if you don't mind." Osgood nodded. "Which one are you?"

"I'm Osgood."

"Human or Zygon?"

The woman smiled. "I'll answer that question one day. Do you know when that day will be?"

"The day nobody cares about the answer." It was Osgood who spoke, but a second Osgood, who stepped out from behind the first. The two were wearing different clothing, which was the only distinction of which was which. "Gotcha!"

"Oh, look at their faces," the first Osgood said.

"It's almost not fair."

"I don't have a strange face," Adelaide said, being the complete opposite of the Doctor's current shock.

"But I don't...I don't...how...how?"

Now, Adelaide knew she had a face. "Oh, Doctor, do tell me you're not being serious."

"It wouldn't be right, would it?" the second Osgood agreed.

"To carry on using Clara's face..."

"When there's a vacancy."

The Doctor leaned forward, looking at them harder. "Zygella?"

"Osgood!" the first corrected, at the same moment as Adelaide.

"But which one of you..."

"Osgood!"

"It doesn't matter which of us is which."

"All that matters is that Osgood lives."

"And nothing's going to stop us!"

The Doctor smiled at them. "You're a credit to your species, Petronella Osgood."

"No, Basil."

"We're a credit to both of them."

He laughed. "Oh, and you should know." The Time Lords opened the TARDIS. "I'm a very big fan." They looked at each other before entering the ship. Clara was waiting for them at the console.

The human looked at the Doctor. "So, you must have thought I was dead for a while?"

"Yeah."

"How was that?"

"Longest month of my life." The Doctor stopped standing opposite to Clara.

She raised her eyebrows. "It could only have been five minutes."

He didn't look at Adelaide. "I'll be the judge of time."

|C-S|

That time, it was Adelaide who went up to where the Doctor was sitting. They'd dropped off their companion and before Clara had left the ship, the Doctor had gone up to his small library without a word. Adelaide had considered not going to check on him, but...she'd been able to feel him watching. Known that he wanted to talk to her.

She stopped at the railing next to where he was sitting, supporting herself against it. He was still looking at her. "I still don't forgive you." He stayed quiet as she spoke. "I hope you never expect me to, because I won't."

"I know."

"What you did with that box, with the Zygon...it was different. Not better, but different."

"You could participate in it without feeling like you were betraying yourself." She nodded. "You're still not going to leave?"

"No." She spoke partially without thinking, but once she'd processed what she'd said she didn't regret it either.

Her and the Doctor, together...Adelaide could enjoy it, for a little, she really could. She could enjoy the Doctor. But after too long, after too many days like today...it got hard. It got tiring. It made Adelaide feel strange.

She knew it wasn't logical to love the Doctor and hate what he did. To love that he was so kind and how much he helped and how he made the universe better because he couldn't help himself, and to hate doing all that. To hate whenever she had a part in what he did.

She could ignore that hate for a little. She'd gotten good at ignoring that hate. Gotten good at focusing on the way the Doctor made her smile and the way they always looked towards each other and the way that their hands drifted together. The way that they'd find each other in a room just to remind each other that there was someone else out there who understood something of what was burning through their mind.

But it was illogical to ignore it and Adelaide hated to be illogical. She hated that imbalance, but she couldn't love the Doctor and be balanced. She couldn't be with the Doctor and be balanced, not in the way she wanted to be.

It didn't work like that. It should, if the universe had any decency for a pair of aligned Time Lords, but it didn't.

And she'd been ignoring that for so long. She'd been pretending that maybe if she just stayed a little longer, maybe if she just stayed with him she'd somehow make it better for herself, but that was a lie. The Doctor was the Doctor – a beautiful, wonderful, idiot, kind man who helped without meaning to. Even if it was possible to change him, Adelaide knew that she never wanted that to happen.

She loved a Doctor that was kind and hated when she was and there was no universe that they would match, not like that.

She was sorry she'd fallen in love. All of this would have been so much easier if she hadn't fallen in love with him.

And maybe...maybe being apart would make that easier. Maybe finding her TARDIS would help her settle.

Adelaide had spent this entire regeneration by the Doctor's side. Maybe leaving him, even for a little, would help her finally determine, once and for all, if she could balance loving and hating him.

After all, her last regeneration had died so that the Doctor could continue saving people. It was more than slightly hypocritical for this regeneration to have such a strong issue when he did just that.

Adelaide looked to the Doctor and couldn't decide if she was thankful or not that he didn't look upset.

He'd spent two regenerations now entirely at her side. Even just a few days apart could do them some good.

To be perfectly honest, as a Time Lady who'd once done everything in her power to avoid interacting with other people, she was shocked she hadn't needed complete alone time before now.

She'd changed. And maybe it was time to let herself agree that it was good, but she needed to be on her own to determine that once and for all.

"Do you remember where your TARDIS is?" the Doctor's voice sounded strange. It didn't match his appearance, but Adelaide couldn't decide why.

"Somewhere near Bath."

"Do you want me to help you look?"

Adelaide looked down at the small ring that Caroline had treasured without ever knowing why. Her TARDIS key, fit into her human narrative as she hid from interfering. "No."

The Doctor didn't debate it.

 **A/N: What's this? Adelaide...leaving...and after that wonderful speech...(still love it, but I knew the moment I started thinking about this episode that Adelaide would hate it)**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _lautaro94: I would say they're both smart in different ways. The Doctor does just like complimenting Adelaide more then she does for him, in the end, which is why her intelligence gets pointed out much more then his does. After all, she's not a 'time-scientist', she's a 'biologist' at heart ;)_

 _Purplestan: Thankfully, she had Kate around with a gun ;)_


	15. Rediscovery

**Rediscovery**

The Doctor left Adelaide in the Bath graveyard. It was the strongest memory she'd retained from Caroline's brief time in the city. Really, Caroline had only been there twice - when she'd first emerged from the TARDIS and just before the first time she'd seen the Doctor because her 'parents' had died. The summer of 2008, Caroline had wandered out from wherever in Bath her TARDIS had crashed and up to London, where her TARDIS, advanced, had gotten her a job in Adipose Industries and a house.

Caroline had spent those months until Christmas with her head down, making few friends, and hiding. Filling in the substantial blanks in her past whenever anyone asked, but not many people did. After all, Caroline picked her friends carefully. She found people who could talk about themselves to the point they wouldn't notice when Caroline never said much in return.

At the time, she'd thought it was because she was shy. Because she found talking difficult. But future events had shown that wasn't it entirely. If the Doctor was around or the one asking, Caroline could start talking, but not about her history. Talking about a past that hadn't existed was difficult.

But when she was asked to talk about things that her Time Lady brain found natural – problem-solving, logic, evaluating situations – it had been easy. That had been when Caroline's shyness had kicked in, silencing her. Trying to keep her from being noticed.

Maybe it had been because of the broken perception filter. Maybe that was just who Caroline was.

Adelaide hadn't heard or felt Caroline for a long time. She'd thought this regeneration had fixed it – not that she'd heard or felt Caroline often in her previous regeneration. But since that one and Caroline had shared the same body, the same eyes...it had felt like Caroline was shoved somewhere there. Waiting. Fighting for survival.

In this city, Adelaide felt Caroline again. The human presence was weak, almost imperceptible, but Adelaide was always good at noticing the imperceptible.

The curse of a broken perception filter. There had been too much Adelaide left in Caroline, pushing to break out, and there was too much Caroline left in Adelaide, crying for someone, anyone, to listen.

Adelaide had never told the Doctor about the remnants of Caroline. He knew that, when the universe had rebooted, Adelaide had been trapped in Caroline's mind again, but he didn't know about how, when time had broken because River had refused to let Adelaide die, Adelaide had heard Caroline.

He didn't understand that when the Cyberplanner had cried out "help me!" and the Doctor had slapped her to give Adelaide back control, it hadn't just been the Cyberplanner mimicking a memory.

Caroline was terrified.

Adelaide ignored her.

It was November when the Doctor left her, just after the Zygon issue had been settled. Adelaide could hear the humans whispering about the aliens in the news as she left the graveyard. She could have left the moment she heard the Doctor's TARDIS leaving, but she'd stayed just a bit longer to give herself any chance of remembering where her TARDIS had ended up.

It hadn't helped, but she'd thought the effort would be worth something.

Adelaide was still holding her ring - her key - as she began to wander. She wished there was a better way to look, but Adelaide remembered nothing of those first few months as Caroline. The chameleon arch had been effective then. Worked as intended.

Sometimes, Adelaide did wonder what would have happened if it had always worked right. If she would have ever met the Doctor. If she would have stayed a human until the day the Master was reborn. If he would have bothered to go looking for her then.

He'd promised he would, but that had been before Adelaide had known exactly who he was.

Maybe she would have stayed human forever. Lived and died as Caroline Alice Attwater.

Everything would have been so much easier if her chameleon arch had worked as intended.

Adelaide blinked, looking down to the ring as it burned. She'd found her way to a canal, drawn to water, as always.

Did that mean...was her TARDIS close?

She held up the ring and turned in a circle, thankful there was no one around, until it grew hotter. And then she walked in that direction until she hit something she couldn't see.

Adelaide felt like crying.

She pressed her other hand against the TARDIS and felt it shimmer into existence again, recognizing her. It looked as it had when she'd first gotten it, a large grey cylinder, but the key was the same.

Adelaide pressed her ring into the keyhole and let the door slide open.

Even if the outside looked like any other TARDIS, the interior looked exactly as she remembered.

It felt like coming home.

Adelaide's TARDIS console room was, unsurprisingly, completely clean. The Doctor's accrued a layer of dust in five seconds after the few initial times Adelaide had tried to dust. Adelaide's, meanwhile, repelled dust and dirt. Even after years of sitting there, untouched, it looked the same.

It was smaller than the Doctor's, with grey walls and a metal grated floor that looked down to the first of her many laboratories. After all, Adelaide's TARDIS had been intended as a research vessel. There was no need for it to be as expansive and eccentric as the Doctor's.

Even so, as Adelaide looked to it, one of the walls in the main room flickered to show the writing she'd left behind. Almost all of her walls could function as a surface to write on, and some of her floors. It was one of the few things her TARDIS never cleaned, cycling through them as necessary.

The console was black in the center, with her central column glowing green. Adelaide touched it and the TARDIS hummed.

"Hello again," she breathed. "Kind of you not to redecorate yet."

Another hum. Adelaide had developed what was close to a working language with her TARDIS shortly after she'd left Gallifrey. She'd tried, for a little, to give her TARDIS the ability to actually speak in some form, but shortly after she'd had that idea the TARDIS had warned her against it.

Apparently, there was a danger of something seriously going wrong with the matrix if Adelaide messed up and, not desiring to offend her, her TARDIS hadn't believed Adelaide knew enough about the mechanical side of TARDISes to not break anything. Adelaide hadn't pushed the issue.

"I'm sorry it's been so long. I didn't mean for that to happen." She flicked a switch as the TARDIS hummed. The screen scrolled towards her on the console – as her TARDIS was designed for a single pilot, there was only one screen that could expand or shrink as needed for displaying data – and flickered on.

Caroline's face looked back.

The record her TARDIS had made of the life that it had made for her. How it had made a hole for someone who'd never existed in a modern day Earth society. It had kept Caroline Alice Attwater alive all this time, running the program until Adelaide turned it off.

"You messed up," she told her TARDIS. "There was too much of me in Caroline, and now there's too much of her in me."

"I apologize for the error." Adelaide spun. Her current face looked back. It made something run cold.

"A voice interface?"

"In my repairs, I located a patch in my index that allows my pilot to make use of a voice interface for ease of communication."

"Who wrote the patch?"

The interface was motionless. "Who."

Adelaide frowned. "Yes, that is what I asked."

"The patch is signed only with 'Who'."

"Do you have records of the original TARDIS?"

The interface nodded. "I adapted the patch from the original Type 40 programming."

The Doctor. Of course, if there was anyone who would develop a voice interface, it would be the Doctor. She did wonder, briefly, if he'd written it before or after Idris. If Idris had written it herself as a gift for her pilot.

She wondered why he'd never mentioned this capability of his TARDIS, not that she'd ever mentioned that she'd attempted to do this on her own.

"Can you pick a different face?"

The interface nodded. "With your consent, I can pick any face from your memories. If you are willing to wait for the process, I can recreate any face you can describe. Which face would you like?"

Frankly, Adelaide didn't care, just any face but her own because looking at her own face reminded her too much of the Cyberplanner. And as much as Adelaide preferred when her face lacked emotion and she could work through problems without outside interference, she did not enjoy being reminded of any time when she'd been trapped inside her own mind.

She'd had enough of that over the centuries. Never again.

She didn't have to speak for the interface to flicker into a new face.

A face that Adelaide had never seen in person, not as herself. Just as Caroline.

Donna Noble.

Donna Temple-Noble, post marriage, if Adelaide remembered rightly.

"Is this face preferable?"

The face was odd, certainly, but it was preferable to seeing her own face or the Doctor's, which she'd honestly expected the interface to pick.

That didn't mean Adelaide enjoyed it. "How long will it take for you to create an original face?"

A pause. "Using modern human time references, I calculate that I could create an original face in three days."

"Do you need me to describe one for that to be possible?"

Adelaide swore the interface smiled. "No. Would you like me to do that?"

"Yes."

"I will retain this face as that process begins."

Adelaide nodded and glanced away, thinking. "Are you capable of traveling?"

"I am low on power after the repairs, but I would currently be able to perform a short relative jump with my remaining fuel. Where do you desire to go?"

Adelaide didn't answer, only began the necessary stages of flight. The interface flickered off. She'd been worried she'd have forgotten how to pilot her own TARDIS after so many centuries relearning the Doctor's but, thankfully now, she'd never quite mastered his. She'd maintained the tricks that had made her TARDIS what it was.

The flight was softer then Adelaide was used to now, but she remembered it from before. Something felt as though it was lifted from her shoulders. A return to her natural state.

Adelaide wished she'd done this earlier.

There was no sound as the ship landed – there wasn't supposed to be a sound, after all – and Adelaide checked to ensure she'd piloted the ship to the right place. She smiled when she saw the symbol that meant her chameleon circuit was functioning perfectly. A proper TARDIS.

At the moment, her TARDIS had disguised itself as a car in a human street. The door mimicked it, so when Adelaide exited it looked to anyone who happened to glance out their window at that moment as though she were simply exiting her normal vehicle.

Not an out of place police telephone box.

It took a few moments, but Adelaide didn't have to move anywhere to hear the voice of the woman she'd come to see.

"Shaun!" Donna called, window open from an unusually balmy November day. "Have you seen my blue hat?"

"In the study!"

The house was nice. Adelaide vaguely remembered the Doctor needing to do something with a lottery ticket as he'd gone around to say his goodbyes, though Adelaide hadn't seen specifically what he'd done. She'd been newly returned to her Time Lady body then, still adjusting.

She'd been still adjusting for a while. She still was.

But she assumed this was who the ticket had gone to, as Adelaide also remembered Wilfred telling the Doctor and Caroline about minimum wage and dreamers and making it work.

The lottery ticket had set them up nicely. She remembered him doing the same with Kazran and the various people they'd had to work around to make their plan work.

Adelaide shivered when she remembered that night. How she'd helped the Doctor interfere with an innocent man's life to save an entire ship. Mess with his memories, who he was as a very person.

Tried to make him kind for Christmas.

She still wore the bracelet the Doctor had given her that Christmas. Had never removed it, even when they'd barely spoken or looked at each other. Hadn't even removed it now.

The door of Donna's home opened and Adelaide didn't have to worry about the human seeing her face after what the Doctor had done to her memories – another cringe as Adelaide remembered that. Caroline hadn't been able to watch, knowing it was wrong, knowing it was terrible.

"Hello?" Donna called, walking down her front path and frowning at the sight of a strange ginger woman in the street before her house. "Can I help you?"

Adelaide smiled at her, tense. "No, thank you. Just checking out the neighborhood."

Donna shook her head. "Oh, has Susan put up her house for sale again? I wouldn't rest your hat on that. She always takes it down the next day."

"Thank you for the warning." Adelaide looked down at the number of bags Donna had carried out with her. "Going on a trip?"

Donna adjusted her grip on her bags. "Trying Egypt again."

"Again?"

"I went once a few years ago. Thought it was terrible, but the husband's always dreamed of going." She shrugged to finish the thought.

"Hopefully it will be more enjoyable the second time." Adelaide stepped back closer to her TARDIS. "Thank you again, and enjoy your trip." She entered her TARDIS without looking back at Donna.

She remembered Donna saying something about Egypt. Something else about bus trips. Adelaide had no idea of the context or when the word had come up, as those memories from Caroline were some of the fuzziest. All she knew was that it was before the Library.

The TARDIS waited until Donna wasn't looking before traveling again, going to the Cardiff Space-Time Rift. TARDISes typically didn't have to refuel, possessing an Eye of Harmony, but Adelaide hadn't questioned her TARDIS when it reported that it needed to recharge.

Just like the Doctor's TARDIS, her's could think on its own. While his displayed that by occasionally deciding where he actually needed to go, her's still allowed her that level of choice, though it gave recommendations.

Of course, Adelaide tended to listen to those recommendations anyway, but the choice was still there.

|C-S|

Even before the Doctor had spoken, he knew that Clara knew something was wrong. It wasn't that strange for Adelaide not to be in the console room when the companion arrived, but Clara could tell something was different by just looking at him.

"What happened?" Clara asked, crossing her arms.

He was at the console and not looking at her. "Adelaide went to find her TARDIS."

He was always surprised at how large Clara's eyes could actually go when she was surprised. He was almost certain she set an Earth record each time. "What did you do?"

Now he did look at her, frowning. "Why do you assume I did something?"

"Because there was a final straw." Clara stopped opposite him. Adelaide always stood there when they flew. "She didn't leave after Ashildr, or after the Fisher King. Why now?"

He was tempted to wave a finger at her and pretend to be fine, but even considering that felt too wrong. He'd thought he'd be happy without Adelaide, not needing to touch or look at her as often recently. Thought that, maybe, what they needed was time apart. That they'd be stronger together.

But he hadn't thought not having her near him would hurt this much.

He hadn't thought knowing that she was somewhere else, anywhere else, would hurt this much.

This was almost like what he'd felt two regenerations ago, thinking of abandoning Caroline. Picking the selfish option because he'd been too afraid of even that small amount of pain.

Oh, if only the Doctor could go back now. If only he could tell his past self to run from her then because then he wouldn't have to face all this pain right now.

Only even if he could, he wouldn't do that, because it was Adelaide and she always found a way to stay around. Always found a way to come back.

The universe wanted them together. Aligned them.

"She just needed time to think." The Doctor flicked something on the console, ignoring the TARDIS's hum. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You can't expect me to just ignore the fact that one of my best friends has gone and you seem to have no idea when she's coming back."

"She'll come back when she's ready." The Doctor, even if it had barely been a day, had taken to telling himself that. She'd come back. She'd come back. She'd come back.

She had to come back.

She had to miss him just as much as he missed her.

They had to have at least one more fixed event in their future...even if, since he'd been supposed to die on Trenzalore, they hadn't encountered any to their knowledge.

"Can I go visit her?" Clara tapped a button of her own. "Always wanted to see another TARDIS."

"I don't know where she is."

The human looked at the console. "There must be some way here to search for another TARDIS. Her's is the only other one, right?"

He didn't want to admit that he'd tried that. Had felt the presence of her TARDIS, but been unable to locate it due to its admittedly impressive shields. Adelaide's TARDIS, despite being a purely scientific vessel, was well protected.

He hoped he'd get to see it, one day. Hoped she'd let him.

"Well, she took her phone, didn't she? I can just call her." Clara made to draw her phone from her pocket, but the Doctor shot her a look that made her stop.

"No." They weren't going to jinx it. Adelaide needed this, so he was going to give it to her.

That was another thing he'd started to tell himself. If he had difficulties with regenerations and becoming different people, he could only imagine what Adelaide went through each time. Especially after the faulty chameleon arch.

"Alright." Clara held up her hands so that he could see she wasn't going to touch anything. "I won't call her." Once he'd looked away, she lowered them. "You know, I don't think I've ever had an adventure just with you. This'll be exciting."

Exciting wasn't the best word. The Doctor wasn't good when he traveled alone. Even if he hated it, there were times when he needed someone to stop him.

When he'd need Adelaide to stop him.

He acknowledged that, which may have come as a shock to most people who saw him in those moments. He knew the person he became when he tried to bend the universe to his will.

The person who Adelaide hated.

That was part of it, and he knew that. She could tolerate his little interfering forever. Could tolerate him stepping in and aiding some rebellion or helping to defeat some monster. That wasn't the problem.

The Time Lord Victorious was the problem. And he was trying, he really was, to not succumb to that anymore. He knew he shouldn't, he knew that the universe wasn't his to control. It was just...

He'd always been selfish. He always would be selfish. He'd always be a bit too entitled for his own good.

Admitting you had a problem was the first step to solving it. The Doctor just hadn't gotten past the first step yet.

|C-S|

Adelaide had never bothered to have an actual bedroom in her TARDIS. She'd developed a fondness for hammocks in her second regeneration, so whenever she was too tired to carry on, her TARDIS would lower one from the ceiling and she'd be able to take a rest in the same room as whatever experiment she'd just been working on.

She didn't have the same fondness anymore, but she had no reason to dislike them, so she didn't mind that the hammock features had been maintained in the repairs. She rested in one as the TARDIS refueled.

It was refreshing, she had to admit, to not have to worry about keeping the Doctor under control. She hadn't realized how much she thought about that until she suddenly didn't.

Not that she'd ever really minded worrying about keeping the Doctor under control. Reminding him to be polite was a chore, yes, but it had become fun. He obeyed with a grin because the Doctor knew it made her happy and he enjoyed making her happy. He'd even started scolding others when they were rude because he knew it would make her laugh.

She didn't mind that, not anymore. She'd embraced an identity as 'Manner's Lady', as the Doctor had once named her. After all, being polite was a good way to pretend at being kind and pretend to care about how someone else actually felt without actually having to be kind or care – Adelaide did care occasionally, but, the majority of the time...she really couldn't be bothered.

What she hated was really...it was when he acted like he deserved respect. Like, no matter how he acted, no matter what he did, people should obey him because he clearly knew better, even if he'd never given them a reason to believe that. Like he knew what was best for everyone.

Like time was his to command.

As much as the Doctor claimed to hate them, he was a typical Time Lord through and through.

Adelaide hated Time Lords. Hated their pomp and their poshness and their assumption that they should rule the universe. That everyone should just bow down and worship them.

That everyone should sacrifice themselves to fight a war they were nowhere near.

Time Lords were not masters of the universe. They were not masters of time.

The Doctor was not a master of time. He did not get to decide who lived and who died and who won and who lost.

But he would. Each time he was faced with that situation, every time he was given a choice, he would decide for them because, no matter how many times she told him or he told himself, he believed it was his right. He believed he could.

It had become Adelaide's responsibility to stop him when he reached that point. To stand opposite him and be the protector of the laws of time and the universe and make him stop.

And maybe it was irresponsible, maybe it was immature, but Adelaide didn't want to be faced with that situation anymore. She didn't want to look into the eyes of the man she loved and make him stand down before he tore the universe apart knowing that he was going to do it again, regardless of what she did at that moment.

Was that too much to ask? Was it too much to just want that responsibility taken off her shoulders?

"I am refueled."

Adelaide looked up at the voice, eyes widening as she took in the new face her ship's interface had crafted. They'd become what looked like a young man with a face remarkably similar to Adelaide's first regeneration. The two could have been siblings. Blond, pale-eyed, though the skin was darker, dressed in simple dark grey. "Prepared for flight?"

The interface smiled. Adelaide wondered if it was possible for it to exhibit a personality. "Yes."

She stood and left the room – she'd gone to one of the separate labs. The interface faded as she neared it and didn't reappear as she entered the console room, going up to pilot on her own.

The flight was perfectly smooth. Adelaide couldn't help but smile.

She picked a random Earth city in the same relative time – ended up with Bristol – and landed somewhere humans were unlikely to go. She could have spent this time alone hovering in the vortex, away from danger, but it was just easier to land somewhere.

Adelaide looked up once she'd landed to catch her own reflection in the rotor. She'd never been someone who was concerned with her appearance in any regeneration, even to the point of maintaining generally the same clothing across all of them. The two postwar had been different, of course, but Adelaide had always felt herself leaning back towards the greys, blacks, and olive greens she'd always worn. A return to normality.

Even now, with the Doctor's influence, she hadn't made a habit of being overly concerned about why her face looked like it did. What her regeneration was attempting to tell her, as the Doctor's most recent revelation had led him towards.

Beyond the Doctor telling her that her eyes were similar to her last one and him being annoyed she got to be ginger twice, Adelaide hadn't thought about it.

Catching her reflection wouldn't have even made her think about it now, but after seeing Donna...she could understand why the Doctor always thought regeneration sent a message.

She could have been Donna's sister. Yes, she'd received this face with Amy as the Doctor's companion, but Adelaide had never been as close to Amy as Caroline had been to Donna. This face was clearly influenced by Donna Noble.

Adelaide looked away.

"Is there anything else you require?" the interface asked.

Adelaide had initially been planning on spending this time in her TARDIS, but she'd quickly decided that that wasn't what she actually wanted to do. Yes, Adelaide was good at spending time alone and busying herself with a task, but she required a task for that to happen.

After the Time Lords restricting her and then trapping her on Gallifrey during the war, there was nothing left in her TARDIS for her to busy herself with.

"Are there any positions available in nearby universities?"

On Gallifrey, Adelaide had taught because it was the only slightly desirable thing she could do as she waited for the authority to travel. Now, she wasn't waiting for authority, not really. She was just...she was just waiting until she was sure. Until she knew what she wanted to do about the Doctor. And she didn't even want the chance of encountering him out in the universe, not right now.

"There is an opening for a biology professor at St Luke's University."

Adelaide nearly laughed. Never ignore a coincidence.

 **A/N: Hm...what an interesting university... ;)**

 **I will say, I loved bringing Donna back here, just briefly. She was one of the first humans who actually meant something to Adelaide (even if she was Caroline at the time) and I felt it important to see her again (also I just love her and Catherine Tate ;) )**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Purplestan: Exactly!_


	16. Not Touching

**Not Touching**

Clara was the first one back in the TARDIS, though she was closely followed by the Doctor, who had the responsibility of ensuring the door was actually closed against the monster of the day.

Adventures without Adelaide were certainly...something. It felt like the Doctor was reverting into someone he'd once been, almost reminding Clara of previous regenerations she could half remember. It was fun. Invigorating. Dangerous.

Not to say that adventures with Adelaide weren't fun or invigorating or dangerous. Clara loved adventures with the Doctor and Adelaide because they brought out the best in each other. It was just...different. And different could be better, sometimes, in short doses.

"I told you it'd work!" Clara laughed at the Doctor, jogging to a stop.

"It very nearly ate you for dinner."

She smirked. "Oh, admit it. I totally saved your life."

"It wasn't going to eat me."

She laughed again. "I totally saved you from having to marry that giant sentient plant thing. That bit when I jumped over the side? That was amazing." He reached the console, looking away from her as he failed to repress a snort and grin. She pointed at him in triumph. "Ha! I knew you were impressed."

The Doctor shook his head at her. "The second most beautiful garden in all of time and space, and we can never come back here because you, Miss Oswald, decided..."

He was cut off by the TARDIS console phone ringing. Both shot their attention to it, excitement cooling.

Clara had been the one to remind him that he should finally figure out how to properly connect the TARDIS phone now that they didn't have Adelaide's. Most of the few people now with a number capable of reaching the Time Lords did have Adelaide's number, but there were a few out there that had gotten the TARDISes for some reason or another. And, Clara had pointed out, Adelaide may set her phone to automatically forward calls to their TARDIS while she didn't want to be disturbed.

No one had actually called it yet, thankfully, so the Doctor hadn't had to directly face a reminder of the fact Adelaide wasn't there anymore.

Until now.

Clara didn't give the Doctor a chance to say anything before picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Clara? Finally. It's Rigsy."

She nodded. "Oh. Rigsy. Hey. What's wrong?"

"So I have this...er...it kind of looks like a tattoo."

Clara rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I gave you this number for emergencies."

"It's an emergency, trust me. Just come and take a look at it. Please."

"Look, look, no matter how bad it is, we cannot take you back down your timeline" a lesson learned due to Adelaide's influence "just to fix a tattoo."

"That's just it. I didn't get a tattoo. And it's...it's counting down."

Clara stopped fidgeting with something on the console. "Sorry, what?"

"The tattoo – it's a number and it's counting down to zero."

She held the Doctor's attention. She'd gotten him to determine that Adelaide's TARDIS was still on Earth in 2015, which meant they'd been avoiding the planet for once. But to help Rigsy – which they were going to do, even if the Doctor tried to fight it – would mean being on the same planet as the Time Lady. For two separated Time Lords with the habit of running into each other in random places, being on the same planet at the same relative time was practically running headfirst into each other. "Hang tight. We'll be right there."

The Doctor's expression was cold, but he didn't fight her.

Clara was glad. She would have won, but it was easier this way.

|C-S|

Since the TARDIS tracked Rigsy through the call, they landed in the exact room he was standing in – which turned out to be a baby's room. Somehow they all managed to fit, with the Doctor ending up next to the cot, looking down at the child. "Did you make this human?"

Clara caught the reflex that had her reminding him to be polite. She'd done it once and received another cold look.

The Doctor didn't appreciate active reminders of the fact that Adelaide wasn't there, as much as he'd accepted her decision to be alone for some time.

"Lucy? Yeah, she's mine."

Clara stepped closer to the cot, smiling. "Oh, hello." She gave the child a wave. "Oh, Rigsy, she's gorgeous."

"She's better than that. She's brilliant." The Doctor frowned at Rigsy. "What are you doing running round getting tattoos when there's..."

"Shh!"

"Look, I didn't get anything. I woke up this morning and it was just there. Jen noticed it."

The Doctor clearly actively resisted rolling his eyes. "Okay, show me this tattoo that you didn't get, then?" Rigsy turned and pulled down the back of his jumper, revealing a tattoo of numbers on the back of his neck. "It's a tattoo. It's very boring."

"No, wait. Just...just keep watching." But the Doctor had already stepped away, finding a picture boo to take his attention.

"What were you doing last night?" Clara asked.

"That's just it. Yesterday was a total blank. Jen said that I left the house before dawn, I missed work, and I didn't get back till after midnight. No one saw me all day."

The Doctor looked up in the perfect moment to see Rigsy's tattoo shift down a digit. "Oh, that's not boring. That is very not boring." He put on his sonic glasses to scan it.

"What? What is it?"

He pulled off the glasses. "Okay, Local Knowledge, you're coming with us. Bring the new human." He moved toward the TARDIS but stopped. "No, don't bring the new human. I'll just get distracted."

|C-S|

A golden light scanned Rigsy where he stood, the Doctor working on the console and Clara looking through Rigsy's phone. "If you want your extremities to stay attached, stand absolutely still," the Doctor warned him. "If not, we can provide a small bag, you can take them home at the end."

Clara frowned at her screen. "Rigsy, your phone. It's like they've wiped it, but only the last day. No location data, no texts, nothing." She looked up at him. "You're sure the screen wasn't cracked before yesterday?"

"Mmm hmm."

The console dinged, giving the results of the scan. "Oh," the Doctor looked down. "Right, okay, here we go. Ah. Good. Weird. Good and weird."

Rigsy was still motionless. "Can I?"

The Doctor seemed to have forgotten about the instruction to remain motionless. "Er, oh, yes, yes. Of course." He stepped back. "First off. In the last twenty-four hours, you have had significant contact with alien lifeforms, right here in the center of London."

"Okay, so why don't I remember anything?"

"You've been retconned."

Both humans frowned. "Huh?"

"What conned?"

"Amnesia drug. Your pre-frontal cortex is marinating in it. Ooo, there's something else. Something...er, not good. Weird." The Doctor moved around the console to where he'd last left the cards of consideration scripts Clara was still attempting to implement. It had never been as effective as Adelaide giving him a look, but Clara had kept trying. After all, polite was different than kind, as Clara knew well after so long with both Time Lords.

"What's he doing?" Rigsy asked.

"He's making an effort to be nice."

"There's no nice way to say you're about to die," the Doctor snapped.

Rigsy's eyes widened. "What?"

The Doctor put down the cards and finished his path around the console, coming closer to Rigsy. "Rigsy..."

The human stepped back. "No, no, no, no, no. Don't start using my actual name now. Call me Pudding Brain, call me Local Knowledge. Whatever. Just don't call me Rigsy. You're going to save me. You're a doctor. That's what you do."

The Doctor turned away from him and Clara had never wished more at that moment to be able to read the Time Lord's mind. She could guess – in her opinion, very accurately – what he was currently considering, but it was impossible for her to know for sure.

When he turned back around and refused to look at Clara, she knew she'd guessed correctly. She pulled out her phone. "Okay. Okay. Yes, okay, let's do this thing. First up, stop the countdown. Five hundred and twenty-six minutes. Right." He nodded, pointing at Rigsy. "Yes, you know what, Local Knowledge, I don't know who did this to you or why. But I do almost certainly know how to find them."

He'd just turned to Clara as she dialed.

|C-S|

If Adelaide was going to be honest, she'd surprised herself. The very few times she'd ended up in a teacher's role before and since the war had not been enjoyable experiences. She enjoyed questions to a certain point, but...everyone could be so slow. Regurgitating facts barely required any intelligence, but that was what had been required of her each time, even on Gallifrey.

St Luke's was better. Not ideal, but Adelaide had accepted on Gallifrey that her ideal was impossible.

With her TARDIS's assistance, she'd created a suitable history for herself. There was a bit of lying required to actually become a professor, but her TARDIS was happy to provide it.

Adelaide became Professor Adelaide Noble of biology at St Luke's – taking Clara's name, as she had when pretending to be another companion while facing previous regenerations of the Doctor, hadn't felt right.

She'd just gotten to the university a morning of her third week when her phone rang. She froze, hand on her office's door. It hadn't done that yet. She'd known it would, eventually. Known that she and the Doctor had given her number out to enough people across the universe that someone had to call it while they were apart eventually.

Adelaide pulled out her phone carefully and raised her eyebrows.

It was Clara Oswald.

If Adelaide was going to be honest, she was very tempted not to answer. That temptation didn't last long as she ducked inside her office and locked the door. "Hello, Clara."

"Hi!" Clara sounded nervous and Adelaide wondered exactly what the Doctor had told her. "How've you been?"

"Well." Adelaide stopped at her office's window. "Why have you called?"

"We're in the same relative time" as Adelaide expected, the Doctor had determined her current location "and have found a...mystery."

Adelaide sighed.

"Do you remember Rigsy?" Clara continued, pretending she hadn't heard Adelaide's reaction. "He has a tattoo that's counting down, and he doesn't have any memory of the last twenty-four hours." A pause, as Clara no doubt read the Doctor's expression. "You don't have to stay. I just thought you might be interested."

"You thought?" She could practically hear Clara's shrug. "Where are you? I'll meet you."

Adelaide could almost hear the Doctor's voice a bit away from the phone. "The Great British Library."

"I'll meet you there and you can explain properly. Goodbye."

|C-S|

Adelaide hadn't been planning on using her TARDIS for a bit longer, but she didn't really mind breaking that promise in order to get to London in a reasonable time. So reasonable, in fact, that she was waiting out front when the trio walked up, the Doctor in the middle of talking to the humans and thus not noticing her yet.

"...about hidden streets. Secret pockets of alien life right here on Earth. Like a smuggler's cove, only not a cove, because it's right here, right in the middle of the capital."

Rigsy eyed the building. "The hidden places are in the Great British Library?"

"No," Adelaide corrected, sharply drawing the Doctor's attention. She may not have looked any different, but she certainly felt it. "The maps are." She smiled at Clara. "Sorry to leave without seeing you. Ruder than I intended." She turned to the Doctor. "Hello again."

He said nothing.

|C-S|

It seemed the Doctor was indeed heavily conscious of Adelaide's presence, as he clearly made an effort to keep the document room at least somewhat neat as they unrolled various old and new maps of central London. Adelaide worked with Clara on the new map, getting the projection equipment working, while the Doctor and Rigsy were responsible for the old maps.

"I never put stock in it," the Doctor said. They – mainly Clara – had explained everything they knew so far about the situation so that Adelaide was completely caught up. "London streets that suddenly disappeared from human view? No. You lot are always overlooking things, but whole streets? That would be excessive, even for you. If the stories are true, though, there should be a street on one of these old maps that no longer exists in the real world."

"Like a trap street, only not," Clara said.

The Doctor frowned at her. "What did you say?"

"A trap street. You know, when someone's making a map, a...er...cartographer, uses a fake street, throws it into the mix, names it after one of his kids or whatever. Then if the fake street, the trap street, ever shows up on someone else's map, they know their work's been stolen. Clever, right?"

The Doctor exchanged a look with Adelaide, him seeming more obviously exasperated than her. "My God. A whole London street just up and disappeared and you lot assume it's a copyright infringement."

"So we're looking for a trap street?"

The Doctor looked over the maps, nodding. "We're looking for a trap street and we're not going to find it here."

|C-S|

Due to the fact they had a companion hanging out of open TARDIS doors, there was no question about Adelaide helping the Doctor pilot. It wasn't an ideal situation – even if Clara was perfectly willing – but the technology being used to hide the place they were searching for hid it from both Time Lords' TARDISes.

And Clara had volunteered.

"The glasses are tracking your eye movements," the Doctor called to remind the human. "Just keep looking straight down and..."

"I know!" She was wearing the Doctor's sonic sunglasses. "Focus on the buildings directly below me."

"Whatever they're using, it only hides the street itself. It prevents you from noticing there's even something missing. They're somehow making our eyes skate right over it. Let's call it a misdirection circuit."

The TARDIS jolted as Adelaide reached for a switch and she watched as Clara slid halfway out of the door, only her knee and foot catching the other door keeping her from falling completely out.

"Clara!" Rigsy shouted, terrified.

But Clara just cheered and laughed. "Hello, London!" Another jolt, this one the Doctor's fault, helped her slide back to safety. "I'm good. I'm good."

Rigsy shook his head. "She enjoyed that way too much."

The Doctor nodded. "Tell me about it. It's an ongoing problem." He waved Rigsy over, guiding the human's hands to a section of the controls. "Here. Keep it steady. Just move it slowly over the grid. When we're done, we'll have a map of the areas of the grid that Clara couldn't focus on."

|C-S|

As it turned out, rather annoyingly, there were three areas. Adelaide marked them in red on a map of London and held it out for the other three to see. "So, these are the bits my eyes skated over," Clara said.

"Okay, we split up. Clara, that way." The Doctor pointed in one direction and she nodded. "Local Knowledge." Towards the next. "Adelaide..."

"I'll go with you." His face nearly flushed. "The other two already have phones." She looked at the humans. "Forget the way you usually look at the world. This street is going to be in plain sight. Use your eyes. Notice everything. If you see something unusual or notable, dismiss it. Keep walking. But if you encounter a place so unremarkable that you don't think about it, stop. It may be a trap street."

"Count everything that you see," the Doctor took up the explanation. "Because when you hit the area around a trap street, it's very likely you'll lose count. You'll lose count because the misdirection circuit is creating confusion in your mind. Details won't add up. Reality will have glitches in it. Like when you try to read the same simple sentence three times over and the meaning just won't sink in."

After final nods from the two humans, the Time Lords released them.

At that moment they were alone together before starting to walk, both mutually considered speaking. Asking the other about how they'd been, how long it had been in their mutual timelines.

And both mutually decided that they didn't want to, couldn't, face that now.

Later. Always later.

|C-S|

In the end, it was Clara who found the area first, so sure of it that she called the other two and gave them her location. "Clara!" the Doctor called as they approached her. "Clara! Clara!" They could see Rigsy walking up behind her.

"It's off this street, I am certain."

Adelaide looked around the location. "We're quite close. Now, we need to distract our other senses."

"Clara, go back to the TARDIS. Pick up all my most annoying stuff."

Adelaide snorted despite herself, making the Doctor glance at her. "You do realize that means she's going to come back with all of your favorite stuff?"

The Doctor didn't look like he believed her, but a shrug from Clara had him sulking while they waited for the human to return.

However, Clara only came back holding Rigsy's phone, which made the Doctor frown. "What happened to the stuff I asked you to bring?"

Clara was just looking at Rigsy. "Someone called you. Yesterday, 6am. Blocked number."

Rigsy reached out to touch the phone but immediately dropped it, stumbling back, as his eyes widened.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked. "What are you remembering?"

"Rigsy, what is it?"

"You can't see it? There!" Rigsy turned and pointed at a join between two buildings...or what had been the join between two buildings. Now, it was a small alley, through which they could see a cobbled courtyard.

The other three turned to face it fully. "I see it," Clara confirmed. "You two?"

Adelaide nodded as the Doctor checked Rigsy's tattoo. "Fifty minutes left. Hoodie up, Local Knowledge. They know what you look like in there." The Time Lord looked at Adelaide before leading the way into the alley, her following close behind.

It first opened into the courtyard they'd seen, but the street looped around past that. Though it had been bright out, this street was dark, permanently lit by street lamps that mixed well with the mix of historical architecture.

"How come I saw it when you guys couldn't?" Rigsy asked.

"You were upset," Adelaide explained. "It caused something to slip through the retconned memory and re-takeover your mind, overpowering the misdirection circuit."

Clara eyed the entrance. "Surely people wander in here all the time, then, distracted, on their phones or whatever?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, perhaps they do..."

Their attention was drawn to bolts of light that shot down the street, landing on their feet and trapping them to the ground. An alarm went off and two men emerged from wherever they'd been hiding.

"Three at once," one of them said.

The other nodded. "That's new."

"Hang about." The first sniffed the Doctor. "This one don't smell human." He moved to Adelaide, smelling her. "Her too."

"Name, species, and case for asylum," the second said. "Quick as you like."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "Asylum?"

"The reason you're here. The reason you need sanctuary." Something seemed to occur to the second, and he grabbed the first's arm. "Why didn't they use the protocol?"

Rigsy leaned forward as far as he could to speak to the Doctor. "I saw through the circuit again. I saw them. They're definitely not human."

The first focused on Adelaide. "You do know this is a refugee camp?"

"Yes."

A woman entered from the other end of the street, escorted by two officers. "Of course they do, now that you've told them." The Time Lords turned to the woman and recognized her.

Both men bowed. "Mayor Me."

Clara's eyes widened. "Ashildr."

The woman frowned. "Ashildr?"

"That's your name," the Doctor reminded her. "I keep telling you that."

"Do you?" Ashildr shrugged. "Infinite lifespan, finite memory. It makes for an awkward social life." She turned to Clara, looking her over. "You must be Clara Oswald. You're as beautiful as your photos."

"We met."

Ashildr nodded. "Yes, I know. It's in my diaries." Clara's face fell, despair for Ashildr's sake evident. "Oh, don't look like that. I enjoyed our conversations. I've read them many times."

Clara looked like she would have stepped back if she could. "Okay, that's slightly odd but nice." She straightened. "Oh, hang on, so this is where you've been. That's why they lost track of you." The Doctor gave Clara a look for that comment. "Oh, come on, please. It's really cute he thinks I don't know. They've got this whole secret room in the TARDIS where they collect mentions of you."

"It's not you," the Doctor hissed, making Clara look to Adelaide...who did not look happy.

Clara had assumed that Adelaide knew about the Doctor's tracking of Ashildr. But while the Time Lady had known of it originally, she hadn't known how much the Doctor had actually been doing it.

He hadn't wanted her to know. Had hoped it might help her forgive him for accidentally turning a Viking girl immortal.

"It's not cute," Ashildr said, voicing Adelaide's thoughts. "It's surveillance."

"It's professional interest."

"Precautionary measure."

"Still saving the world from us, then?" Adelaide asked, making Ashildr smirk.

"It's still here, isn't it?"

Clara seemed more careful, but she continued to speak. "He lost track of you in the early 1800s. I wondered if you were..."

"Oh, no. I let him know I was okay."

"I saw you."

Ashildr shook her head. "No, I got your attention."

"Yes, you did, and you have. Now we need your help." He was avoiding looking at Adelaide again, hating to assume she would still want to help, but needing to. "Someone in this place is in control of a Quantum Shade." He gestured at Rigsy, who lowered his hood and removed his hat to allow them to recognize him.

The first snarled at him. "I knew I recognized that smell."

"Oh." Ashildr turned away.

"Ashildr?" Clara asked. "What's going on?"

As an answer, Ashildr removed her scarf and turned back, showing them her pendant and new tattoos curling around her neck.

"You," Adelaide said.

"How do you know this man?"

Clara held up a hand. "Hang on. You did this to Rigsy?"

"What have you done?" the Doctor asked.

"This man committed a crime. I sentenced him."

Adelaide's back straightened and the Doctor knew the situation was going to be touchy for her. If Rigsy had been aware of what he'd done when it happened, if he'd intended to do harm and if the punishment was just...

"Sentenced him?"

Ashildr nodded. "I also gave him enough time to return home and say goodbye to his family."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "You flooded his brain with retcon. He didn't even know he had to say goodbye."

"I'm afraid no intruder leaves this place without a memory wipe. With respect, that will include you."

Clara scoffed. "Oh, the hell it will."

"Ashildr, given we're all going to forget this conversation anyway, perhaps you could tell us what happened here yesterday to necessitate a death sentence?" the Doctor asked, speaking carefully.

Ashildr sighed. "Fine, I'll show you." She turned to the men. "Mr. Kabel, Mr. Rump, permit them entry."

The Doctor held up a hand to stop them. "No. You've already endangered one of ou-my friends." He caught himself, reminded himself not to assume how Adelaide currently felt about Rigsy. "I want your personal guarantee that you will not endanger another."

Clara frowned. "Shut up, I can handle myself."

Ashildr held the Doctor's gaze. "I guarantee the safety of Clara Oswald. She will be under my personal protection. This is absolute."

The second man, Kabel, nodded. "If that's your wish, Mayor Me." He stepped to the side and the light flashed, releasing their feet.

Ashildr moved back. "This way."

As Rigsy passed Rump, the man leaned forward, hissing, "murderer."

Clara, close enough to hear, glared at him. "What did you say?" She pulled Rigsy on after the Time Lords...who were close, but not touching.

"Murderer," Rigsy repeated, glancing over his shoulder. "He called me a murderer."

The street opened up again into what was approximately a market, more residents milling about at a few small stalls.

"So," the Doctor said, stepping closer to Ashildr, "you're still calling yourself Ashildr, then?"

"Me?"

"Mayor Me."

Ashildr shrugged. "Mayor is a title. I give myself a title for the same reason you do, Doctor, and the same reason you don't Adelaide. Something to live up to."

Behind them, a woman pulled her child away from Rigsy when she spotted him.

"Difficult, isn't it?" the Doctor asked. "How long have you been here?"

"Since Waterloo."

"The battle?"

"No, the station." Ashildr looked back at the Time Lords. "Really, Doctor, Adelaide. Tread carefully while you're here. Both of you. Some of your greatest enemies are within a few feet of you. As far as you're concerned, this is the most dangerous street in London." Ashildr nearly smiled. "Amusingly, there's not actually much overlap of enemies. Don't know how you two managed that."

Clara nodded. "Fascinating. Now, can we skip to the part where you want Rigsy dead for some reason?"

"It's him!" a woman called. "He's back!" Another man stood, glaring at Rigsy.

"It's best we get him inside first," Ashildr said.

"Murderer," the man snarled. "You're not welcome here."

Rigsy stepped closer to Clara. "They look at me as if they want to kill me themselves."

"Don't want your kind round here."

"Murderer!"

"Murderer."

Ashildr waved her hands to the people, attempting to calm them. "Like I said, it's best we get inside."

"...keep away from us."

"Filthy murderer!"

Rigsy grabbed Clara's arm as he saw someone at the end of the street. "Wait, Clara, look." But when the woman had turned, the young man was gone. She just finished the turn to look up at a nearby caged raven.

The Doctor admired the people. "This misdirection circuit is remarkable. The cloaking device that hides the street, makes everyone look like humans."

"It's not a device," Adelaide said, speaking before Ashildr. "Lurkworms."

Ashildr nodded. "Quite something, aren't they?"

The Doctor still looked confused, so Adelaide nodded up at the lamps. "That light is a telepathic field which normalizes everything you see. Puts it within your expectations and experiences. I trust it's still simple to bypass them?"

In answer, Ashildr nodded toward a nearby injured man and pinched the Doctor's arm, hard enough to make him jump, and then the sight made him stumble back. "Don't worry," Ashildr said, "we're perfectly safe."

"Yes, a phrase I find is usually followed by a lot of screaming and running and bleeding."

"I brokered a truce. We have strict rules against violence here. Rules every creature must abide by if they wish to remain on the street."

"Get away from us!"

"Don't want your kind round here.'

"What's better," Ashildr continued, ignoring her people, "that they're in here with me, peaceful and cooperative, or out there on Earth like the Zygons? We haven't had an act of violence on this street for a hundred years, until yesterday, when your friend here attacked one of our most vulnerable residents."

Adelaide shot Rigsy a look.

 **A/N: Adelaide never can resist a mystery ;)**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Purplestan: Technically, the only times they really interacted where these few times we've seen and (most importantly) when they helped each other escape Gallifrey. That helping each other is what has been at the base of all their later encounters. They weren't really friends/knew of each other (at least Adelaide didn't know about the Master) until helping each other escape, but since then both have silently declared the other a friend of sorts (mainly the Master). The two are heavily intertwined. And don't worry, I love me some Missy too. She's definitely in this story ;)_


	17. Not Seeing

**Not Seeing**

Clara just shook her head as they entered one of the buildings. "How did Rigsy even get in? I mean, we barely managed it, and we know what we were looking for."

"She was found at the entrance of the street," Ashildr explained, stopping at a body suspended in a green field. It was a young woman, her head lowered, wound clearly evident. The Doctor and Adelaide approached her slowly to study. "No weapon on the scene, but the cause of death is likely the head wound. Seems she was knocked to the cobblestones."

"Seems?" Clara said. "You've sentenced Rigsy to death yet you don't know exactly what's going on?"

"He was found over the body. My people were angry, frightened. I had to act."

"This is ridiculous, this is..."

"What was her name?" Rigsy asked, approaching the body slowly.

"Anah. We're keeping her here until someone can take her home for burial."

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide as they both saw the second face on the back of Anah's head, identifying the species. "She's a Janus," he said.

"She escaped slavery. She fled here with her child."

"A boy," Adelaide guessed, Ashildr nodding.

"Is that bad?" Clara asked her.

"Not bad, simply unhelpful. A daughter may have seen who killed her mother." Adelaide gestured at the back of Anah's head for Clara to look at. "A female Janus is psychic, with one face seeing into the future and the other looking behind, into the past."

Clara nodded. "I think we saw her son outside."

Rigsy was still looking at Anah. "Clara, what if I did do it? I mean, I wouldn't have meant to hurt her, but what if I wandered in and saw what she really looked like? What if I freaked?"

Adelaide looked to Ashildr. "You were called here at 6 am by a number from a mystery phone. You didn't just wander in."

Clara touched Rigsy's arm. "There is no way you did this."

Ashildr looked between them. "So, what then? You think someone called him here? Set him up?"

"Yes!"

Someone banged on the door. "Mayor!"

"Obviously," Clara continued. "Which means one of your pet aliens out there is the real killer."

"I just need to talk to her."

Ashildr moved back to the door. "Excuse me. I'm sorry."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes. Please, go. It's not like we've got a ticking clock or anything." He moved to check Rigsy's tattoo. "Forty-one minutes."

Adelaide led the way to the door to follow Ashildr. She was standing before an older couple, the man pleading, begging, as a crowd surrounded them.

"...anything but this," the man continued. "Please. I only took it to save her."

Ashildr looked up at Rump. "How many minutes left?"

He checked the man's neck. "Two, Madam Mayor."

Ashildr turned to address the crowd. "This man stole medical ratios. He broke a rule of the street and he stole from all of you. And yes, I can remove the chronolock." Ashildr touched the tattoos on her neck. "But I won't. our rules keep us safe."

"Give it to me," the older woman begged, pulling on the man's hand. "Please. Tell me I can have it. One word. Say it. Say yes."

The man pressed a hand to her cheek, shaking his head. "I did this to save you, you silly old thing. You really think I could lose you now?"

Ashildr breathed in and closed her eyes, making the tattoo on her neck turn to smoke.

"What's happening?" Rigsy asked.

"It's called a Quantum Shade," the Doctor explained. "It's kind of a spirit. Once it's bound to a victim..." the raven turned to matching smoke, "you could flee across all of time and all of the universe, it would still find you."

The man and woman clutched each other as the raven landed on an awning at the end of the street.

"Don't run," Kabel urged. "Stay with her."

But the man didn't listen. He ran into a house, the woman reaching after him. "Don't go!"

Kabel sighed. "Why do they always run?"

Though the man had closed the door behind him, the raven simply flew through it. They watched him come out a separate one, trying to find somewhere he could hide. "Help me, somebody, please!"

The Doctor moved up to Ashildr's side. "At least give him a merciful death."

Ashildr turned to look up at him. "Do you think a Cyberman fears a merciful death? Peace on this street depends on one thing. To break it in any way is to face the Raven."

Though the man had run desperately through the street, he ended up facing them again just as the raven flew into his back. He screamed as he died, smoke billowing out of his mouth as he collapsed. The street went quiet once he hit the ground.

Kabel moved to comfort the woman as the raven flew away and the tattoo returned to Ashildr's neck, the woman rolling her neck as she adjusted to its presence again. "I have no wish to harm your friend if he is innocent, Doctor, Adelaide." She spoke to the Time Lady even though Adelaide was still standing in the back beside Clara and Rigsy. "Question anyone. Examine the body. But it's not me you need to convince of Rigsy's innocence." Ashildr turned to nod the crowd. "It's them." Ashildr left them with her police escort.

The Doctor looked at his watch and then looked up, holding Adelaide's gaze. Rigsy moved to the side to make a phone call.

Clara uncrossed her arms, rolling her shoulders. "Okay, we split up. Cover more ground. I'm good cop, you're" she pointed at the Doctor "bad cop, you're..." she turned to Adelaide, but the Doctor interrupted her.

"No, no, no, we don't have..." the Doctor frowned. "Can I not be the good cop?"

"Doctor, we've discussed this. Your face."

He looked at Adelaide instead of answering and was relieved to see that she didn't look angry. Granted, he didn't normally see emotion on her face, but he could normally tell if she was unhappy about what was happening. If she was preparing herself to stop him. And he didn't see any of that now.

It was the call. If Rigsy hadn't gotten a call at 6 am...it was more likely that Adelaide wouldn't want to help him.

"Forget about cops, right?" the Doctor said, watching Adelaide to ensure she kept agreeing. "Forget about finding the real killer. You heard Ashildr. All we have to do is persuade these creatures that it isn't Rigsy. And fast." With a nod, the Doctor and Adelaide stepped apart together, moving toward where they could see Rump drinking outside a building. "Are you sure it wasn't someone from the street?" the Doctor asked him.

Rump nodded. "I've told you already there wasn't anyone up that end of the street except Anah and the human."

"I've identified twenty-seven different species on this street so far, fifteen of whom are known for aggression. Why is it so hard to believe that one of them is capable of murder?"

"Capable of murder, yeah. Capable of killing Anah? No."

"Why not? What's so special about her?"

"You wouldn't understand."

The Doctor leaned down, hands on the table. "So you just want the human dead, is that it?"

Rump stood at that comment, glaring. "You don't get it, do you? If the human didn't do it, that means one of us did it, which means folks start pointing fingers, turning on each other. And once we turn on each other in here, that's it. I might as well be back in a war zone."

"And you'll let Rigsy die to keep the peace?"

Rump nodded. "Yeah, I will."

|C-S|

There weren't many people along the street who were willing to speak to the Time Lords, most recognizing one of them, but thankfully Kabel was willing to further describe the moment Rigsy had been found over the body.

"Your friend, acting like he was all scared of us, calling for a doctor," Kabel said, shaking his head.

"A what?"

Kabel nodded as the Doctor looked away. "I know. The cheek of it. Humans can survive losing entire limbs and I'm supposed to believe he..."

"Shut up!" the Doctor snapped. "Shut up." He held up a hand. "The other thing you said, the second thing. What...what...what...you said he was scared and?"

"And he asked the Mayor to call him a doctor. Poor Anah, dead at his feet, and..."

"Did he say 'a doctor' or 'the doctor'?" Adelaide asked. "There's an important distinction."

"'The doctor'. There was nothing wrong with him, mind. It was all just your standard human lies."

The Time Lords didn't have to discuss it as the Doctor turned and ran off, Adelaide taking a moment to thank Kabel before following him as he found Clara and Rigsy by a vegetable stand.

"Clara gave you my number for emergencies," the Doctor said to Rigsy. "So when you wake up with a weird tattoo on your neck and no memory of the last twenty-four hours, the first thing you do is call the Doctor?"

"Call the Doctor?"

He nodded. "But you find yourself accused of murder on a strange alien street in the middle of London. Only they've taken your phone, so you beg the woman in charge to call me instead. She knew you and I were friends. So why'd she lie?" he looked away as he thought. "Unless she had something to hide."

"Murderer!"

"There's something very wrong here," the Doctor said, "and we're running out of time."

Clara stepped forward. "Ahem. There's twelve minutes left. I'm not giving up yet."

Rigsy shook his head. "Look, Clara, even if one of them knows something, they're not going to come forward." He shivered. "The way they look at me."

The phrasing made Clara stop. "The way they look at you?"

"What?"

|C-S|

It wasn't that difficult to locate Anah's home. Clara took charge of knocking on the door. A young boy opened it, but, seeing them, he made to close it quickly. "Hey, wait," Clara said, catching the door. "Everyone here is weird around us because of Rigsy. But not you. You look at me, the Doctor, and Adelaide like you're confused. Like your curious."

"I don't know what you mean."

Clara nodded. "You do. You know Rigsy is innocent because you can look into his past and you can see it, can't you?"

Adelaide's eyes widened when the boy looked down because how had she missed that? It had barely been a week, and she'd already missed this?

Anah's daughter let them into the home, her and Clara sitting on the inside couch. "She dressed you as a boy to protect you, but really you're a girl," Clara said. "You have the gift."

"It is no gift. I'm safe as a boy. This is the first place I've ever been safe, and you want me to throw it away? To admit what I am?"

"The Mayor," the Doctor said. "What is she up to? It's nothing good, is it?"

"I can't see everything, but she thinks she's doing the right thing."

Adelaide nodded. "They tend to." She crossed her arms. "If what Me intends to do is harmless, we will leave you in peace and no one will know of your abilities. If it's not, I will still attempt to maintain that promise to the best of my ability. I will try to protect you."

"I don't know what she means to do." The daughter shook her head. "No, I'm trying, but I can't see it. I can't see it because it involves you. When I look at you, both of you, I can't tell your past from your future, and there's so very much of both."

The Doctor and Adelaide walked around the couch to face the back face. "This isn't about Rigsy," the Doctor said. "It's about me."

"Us," Adelaide corrected.

The front face closed her eyes, allowing the back one to open them. "She couldn't just ask you here. She needed a mystery. You can never resist a mystery. She did not know you were apart. She did not want her. She's afraid."

"Afraid of whom?" Adelaide asked.

"I can't see." The second face closed her eyes again. "I'm sorry."

The Time Lords looked at each other. Did not want her.

Ashildr just wanted to summon the Doctor.

|C-S|

The Doctor was the one who convinced Anah's daughter to come with them, thankfully managing it quickly, though they still ran.

Rigsy was running out of time.

As they passed the Raven in its cage, the bird cawed. The Doctor pointed at it. "You hold your tongue. We've got ten minutes left!" They entered Ashildr's home, empty save for Anah's suspended body. "Ashildr said Anah was being taken home for burial," he said. "But the Janus burn their dead."

Rigsy looked at Anahson. "Is that true?" the girl nodded.

"So, look, Ashildr got it wrong," Clara said. "What does it matter? Come on!"

The Time Lords had gone to the technology, looking it over, Adelaide pulling out her sonic to scan. "There's something about this tech..." the Doctor murmured.

"Look, we don't have time..."

But Anahson stepped forward. "What is it?"

As she spoke, the Doctor managed to activate a screen, making Adelaide glance over. "It looks like medical data."

"But it can't be." Anahson looked back at Anah's body. "She's dead. She isn't breathing."

"This is a stasis pod," Adelaide explained. "Useless if you're already dead, but if you're alive..." She nodded to the Doctor, who pressed the button to activate the speakers and play Anah's heartbeat to the room. "It maintains you."

"She's alive?" Anahson gasped.

"She's alive."

"Well, get her out! Get her out of there!"

"There must be a way to unlock it," the Doctor said, randomly pressing buttons on the screen as Adelaide looked over the stasis chamber again. "Something basic, something simple that we're both missing."

"A keyhole!" Rigsy called.

"Yes, a keyhole's what I'm looking for," Adelaide told him, but he shook his head.

"No, no, no, a keyhole! Look!" he pointed at the base of the Doctor's machine, where Adelaide could indeed see one...a keyhole with a very distinctive look.

Anahson nodded. "I'll find her. I'll get the key."

"No, Anahson, stay here," the Doctor said. "There's a reason that the Mayor has gone AWOL. She means for us to release your mother, but she doesn't want us to use her key." He looked at Adelaide. "She wants to use mine." He held up his TARDIS key, Adelaide's own growing hot on the finger she now wore it on.

An initial trap laid for both Time Lords, but a final one just for the Doctor.

Clara's gaze shot to the key. "The TARDIS. That's what this is about." The Doctor didn't speak as he bent to unlock the stasis chamber. "Doctor, wait!"

He didn't stop. "This girl needs her mother." In order to reach the lock, the Doctor had to reach his hand into the machine, making metal slide closed around his wrist. He cried out when that happened, Clara leaping forward.

"Doctor!"

"I can't..."

"What's it doing?"

The metal slid open again and the Doctor pulled his right arm out, revealing a thick metal bracelet. Behind them all, the stasis chamber opened and Rigsy and Anahson caught Anah as she fell.

"Mum!" Anahson said, her mother still not properly conscious. "Mum, are you okay?"

"She'll be perfectly fine in a few moments," Ashildr said, making them turn as she entered the room. "I assure you."

Clara hurried to the Doctor in an attempt to help him remove the bracelet. "There are easier ways to steal a key, you know," he hissed to Ashildr.

"I don't want your TARDIS. That's not what this is about." Ashildr turned to Rigsy. "Rigsy, come here, I'll remove your chronolock."

Adelaide glanced back at the bracelet. "Explain what that is."

"It's not a restraint. It's a teleport bracelet."

"What?"

"I'll give you time to say goodbye, don't worry. No one will be hurt."

The Doctor frowned. "Where are you sending me?"

"I made a deal to protect the street. They take you," she looked to Adelaide, "and not you. I take the key so she can't trace you. I do as they tell me, and the street is safe."

"They?" Adelaide asked. "Who are they?"

Ashildr ignored her. "One more thing. Your confession dial. They have other means of procuring it, but I understand it's likely to be on your person. Please, no resistance. You've already lost." The Doctor didn't fight it, handing over his dial. "What is it?" Ashildr turned it over.

"In your terms, my last will and testament," the Doctor explained.

"How does it work?"

"We have no idea," Adelaide said, her voice growing calmer, the complete opposite of the Doctor's.

"Well," Ashildr shrugged, putting the dial on the mantelpiece, "thank you anyway." She turned to Rigsy again. "Rigsy, your neck."

"Clara, what are you playing at? The chronolock!"

Adelaide spun to face the human then, though Clara had yet to look worried. "Take the teleport off him first."

Ashildr just reached for Rigsy's neck. "I don't have it," Rigsy said, "I'm telling you. Clara does."

Clara spun and pulled up her hair, showing Ashildr the back of her neck. The woman's expression was enough to confirm.

Oh, Clara.

"No. No, you didn't."

"Go on, then. Take it off."

"Clara, you didn't!" The Doctor took Clara's shoulder and turned her so that he could see it himself.

Ashildr turned away, shaking her head. "I had no idea she'd do something so stupid." She looked back to the Time Lords, one far more visibly angry. One watching him. "I swear, I never meant for anyone to get hurt." She glared at Clara. "Look, what were you thinking? Sacrificing yourself?"

"I wasn't sacrificing anything," Clara scoffed. "It was strategy. Backup plan, to buy us more time."

The Doctor moved towards Rigsy. "Who told you to give it to her?"

Clara caught his arm, stopping him. "Nobody did. I did. Rump said..."

"What exactly did Rump say?"

"He said the death is locked in. You can't pass it on, but you..." and then Clara's voice faded, eyes wide, revelation sinking in.

"But what?"

"But..."

"But you can't cheat it altogether," Ashildr finished as the Raven cawed.

Rigsy looked horrified. "Clara, you didn't tell me that. Give it back to me, now."

"She can't," Ashildr said. "Clara, I made a contract with the Shade when I put the chronolock on Rigsy. I promised it a soul and only I can break that contract. When you took it from him, you changed the terms. You cut me out of the deal."

Clara looked between the Time Lords. "We can fix this, can't we? We can always fix it."

The Doctor wasn't looking at Adelaide. He didn't want to see her face because he could already guess what she'd say. "No." He looked to Ashildr. "But you can. Fix this. Fix it now."

"It...it's not possible. I can't."

"Yes, it is, you can, and you will, or this street will be over. I'll show you and all your funny little friends to the whole laughing world. I'll bring UNIT, I'll bring the Zygons. Give me a minute, I'll bring the Daleks and the Cybermen. You will save Clara, and you will do it now, or I will rain hell on you for the rest of time."

"Doctor," Clara said, "stop talking like that."

Ashildr shook her head. "You can't."

"I can do whatever the hell I like! You've read the stories. You know who I am. And in all of that time, did you ever hear anything about anyone who stopped me?"

Ashildr's answer was a look at where Adelaide was still standing.

"Yes," Adelaide said, her voice quiet. Calm. Emotionless. The epitome of the protector of the universe. The Doctor straightened and he turned to face her. "But I won't."

"Adelai..." Clara began, but Adelaide held up a hand, quieting her.

"I'm done stopping you, Doctor, because you never listen. You never learn." She was holding his gaze and may have been the only one in the universe who could in that moment. "Once I'm done speaking, I am going to turn away and let you do whatever the hell you like in a futile attempt to save a doomed woman's life. But before I do, I want you to remember something." She stepped closer. "It was Clara's choice. Her mistake. Her decision. She made it misinformed, but she made it all the same. They are her consequences to bear, not yours. Respect that." Another step closer. Closer than they'd been this entire time. "Now go on. Be Time Lord Victorious."

Adelaide didn't turn away when she finished speaking. She didn't look away.

She let the Doctor do that first.

Clara was the first to speak, looking to Ashildr again. "Is there anything you can do?"

Ashildr shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry, I..."

"Time's short. Yes or no?"

"No."

Clara nodded. "Well, if Danny Pink can do it, so can I."

"Do what?" the Doctor asked, his voice somewhere Adelaide couldn't place. Somewhere she didn't try to.

Adelaide was done.

"Die right. Die like I mean it. Face the Raven."

"No. This...this isn't happening." Adelaide turned away from the Doctor, as she said she would. Crossed her arms. "This can't be happening."

"Maybe this is what I wanted. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is why I kept running. Maybe this is why I kept taking all those stupid risks. Kept pushing it."

The Doctor shook his head. "This is my fault."

"This is my choice," Clara repeated, and Adelaide nearly smiled. Would have, in a different situation.

"I let you get reckless."

Clara shrugged. "Why? Why shouldn't I be so reckless? You're reckless all the bloody time, both of you are. Why can't I be like you?"

The Doctor was pained, but Adelaide looked back over her shoulder at his voice. She didn't even have to focus to tell where he was. "Clara, there's nothing special about me. I am nothing, but I'm less breakable than you. I should have taken care of you. I should have prepared you."

"I never asked you to."

"You shouldn't have to ask."

The Raven cawed again.

"Clara," Rigsy tried again, "if I'd known, I'd..."

Clara held a hand to him. "Don't. Shut up."

"But I..."

"Really, Rigsy, shut up. If you feel guilty about this, even for one minute, I..." she was cut off by the Raven and Clara closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. "You." When she opened her eyes, she looked at the Time Lords – both of them, because Adelaide wasn't going to escape this instruction. "Now, you listen to me. Both of you. You're going to be alone now, and you're very bad at that. You," she looked at Adelaide, "close off and hide. Run away. And you," the Doctor, "are going to be furious and you're going to be sad, but listen to me. Don't let this change you, either of you." The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "No, listen. Whatever happens next, wherever she is sending you, I know what you're capable of. You don't be a Warrior. Promise me. Be a doctor."

"What's the point of being a doctor if I can't cure you?"

Clara smiled at him. "Heal yourself. You have to. You can't let this turn you into a monster." She looked at Adelaide again. "You don't have to stop him. You don't have to protect. Just...forgive. Please." She took another breath. "So, I'm not asking you two for a promise, I'm giving you two an order. Neither of you will insult my memory. There will be no revenge. There will be no running away. I will die, and no one else, here or anywhere, will suffer."

"What about me?" the Doctor asked, and Adelaide hated that it nearly made her break.

She was Adelaide. She was logic and science and separating emotions from actions. She learned and taught and didn't interfere because she had no right to.

"If there was something I could do about that, I would," Clara told him. "I guess we're all just going to have to be brave."

"Clara..." The Doctor hugged Clara tightly and he didn't look as though he was ever going to let her go.

"Everything you are about to say, I already know. Don't do it now. We've already had enough bad timing." Clara pulled herself back from him as the Raven cawed again.

"Don't run," the Doctor tried. "Stay with me."

Clara smiled again. "Nah. You stay here. In the end, everybody does this alone."

"Clara..."

"This is as brave as I know how to be. I know it's going to hurt you, but, please, be a little proud of me." Clara touched the Doctor's cheek. He took that hand and kissed it, holding that until Clara stepped back. "Goodbye, Doctor." The Raven cawed again. Clara looked over to Adelaide. "Goodbye, Adelaide."

Adelaide only nodded.

Clara left.

The Doctor followed.

Ashildr stayed.

Adelaide stayed.

"You won't go with her?" Ashildr asked her, voice quiet.

Adelaide didn't answer.

This was different than Amy and Rory.

Their death had affected Adelaide more than she'd expected then, so she'd prepared herself for that when Clara's inevitable death occurred. She'd thought she knew how she would react.

But Clara Oswald meant more to Adelaide than Amy and Rory had. Amy and Rory had been Adelaide's friends, yes, but they'd been the Doctor's companions. They'd been closer to him. Meant more to him. He would have done anything for them and, while Adelaide may have done the same, she knew she would have done it for the Doctor's sake. Because the Doctor cared for them.

And perhaps that was a lie. Perhaps she would have done it because she truly cared about them. But it would have been so easy to give herself that justification. To redirect her logic's annoyance.

She knew she wouldn't have been able to do the same now.

Clara was more than just her friend. More than just the person Adelaide shared exasperation with when the Doctor did something particularly stupid. Clara was Adelaide's first real companion. Her first real assistant.

The loss of Clara devastated her.

And she refused to think about it. Refused to dwell on it. She pushed it aside and ignored it for now because there was no benefit to being upset. There was no benefit to acting without thinking the situation over.

Adelaide needed to think it over. She needed to ensure she'd made it clear to herself.

She needed to ensure that she was totally convinced that it was Clara's choice.

Because she understood the Doctor's way of thinking, she did. The illogical side of her, however small it was now, understood completely. She and the Doctor had taken responsibility for Clara the moment the option to travel had been offered to the human. The moment they'd run into a bar-maid governess in a snowy street of Victorian London. Any choice that Clara made after that point, even if they were all Clara's choice, was influenced by the Doctor and Adelaide.

Adelaide could acknowledge that. She had to acknowledge that because it was the truth. She had to acknowledge her impact.

The terrible consequences of interference.

Adelaide knew that Clara had died when the Doctor re-entered the building.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Ashildr said. "I truly am." She looked at Adelaide again. "I'm sorry, but I am willing to restrain you, if necessary."

"It is not necessary." Adelaide's voice was very close to breaking, but she had enough control of it to not let it show. She looked at the Doctor again, hands clasped behind her back, shoulders held back. "I am not going to come after you. I wish you the best of luck wherever you're going and with whatever happens there and I do, truly and honestly, know that you will walk out the other side alive." She nearly smiled. "I have faith in your stupid ability to survive against all the odds. But when you do, don't come looking for me. If the universe wants us together again, we will be together. If not..." she nodded and clenched her hands and felt for that bracelet for something to hold "goodbye, Doctor."

The Doctor did not nod and Adelaide did not hate him and she did not love him and she did not know how she felt but she knew that the Doctor was a good man who loved too hard and too much.

And Adelaide walked away from him.

 **A/N: I'm so sorry I stopped updating this story. Curse the end of that school year, going abroad, and then the start of this one. I honestly thought I'd gotten a lot farther in posting this story, as I have it completely written to the end of series 10.**

 **Adelaide and the Doctor have really been pushed apart. The upcoming chapters are some of my favorite.**

 **Notes on reviews:**

 _Purplestan: I'm glad you liked it! I was a bit iffy on this arch in the show, but writing it through with Adelaide made me enjoy it quite a lot more. I also can't wait for more Missy ;)_


	18. Storm Room

**Storm Room**

Her students could tell that something had happened. Adelaide had barely been instructing them for four weeks and she'd been careful to portray her ideal self for that initial month – their previous professor had run off due to a sudden family emergency that reminded Adelaide of the Doctor helping people win the lottery.

She'd been careful to be emotionless. Logical. Observer. Let herself fill that role to an extent that she hadn't truly been able to when around the Doctor. He just made people care too much.

But after Clara...she was different.

Quieter.

Adelaide hadn't left the street when she'd left the Doctor, staying to arrange for Clara's burial and ensure that Ashildr wasn't going to enforce the retcon rule on her. Thankfully, Ashildr didn't even try and allowed Adelaide to take Clara's body to the human's father.

He recognized Adelaide from when she and a nude Doctor had visited on Christmas, with the Doctor briefly pretending to be Clara's boyfriend. It felt so long ago to Adelaide now. Barely the same regeneration.

But he had not known what Clara actually did. Had been surprised when Adelaide had turned up on his doorstep, regardless of the fact she had his daughter in her arms.

Ashildr had offered to take Clara's body or to send one of the most loyal members of the street. But Adelaide was responsible. Adelaide had helped set the woman down the path that had led to her death.

Clara was Adelaide's assistant. She would see her through in the end.

But Adelaide had no right to be the one who told Clara's father the truth. Who revealed just how much his daughter been lying to him over the years.

Adelaide could understand the urge of companions not to tell their families what they did, where they went, what they saw. Caroline had had no family or friends to tell – making the Doctor even more attractive than he may have been for her naturally. But Adelaide had had a mother and father on Gallifrey. Parents who had been the only ones on Gallifrey who'd loved her. The first two people that she'd ever felt any true affection for. For the longest time, she'd thought they would be the only ones.

Once she'd left Gallifrey, she'd sent the occasional message back to them. They'd been generally aware of what she'd been doing, if not understanding of her desire to do so. Supportive of her happiness even as they would have preferred her to be with them. Her parents had been Time Lords that loved Gallifrey. Proper Time Lords. Peaceful Time Lords.

If the entire planet had been filled with people like her parents, Adelaide may have loved it. But it hadn't been.

Adelaide didn't know what to tell Clara's father. Didn't know how to tell him his daughter had died, why she was the one delivering the body.

It wouldn't have been enough to simply tell him she'd died protecting someone. A lot of people died protecting someone else. Danny had died protecting someone else. Adelaide had died protecting someone else. Simply saying that didn't even begin to touch on the greater situation, the greater sacrifice.

Adelaide wanted Clara's father to understand the sacrifice of his daughter.

But she didn't know how to convey that – never a master of words, of finding a way to convey the deeper emotions of her thoughts.

She apologized. She asked if he had anyone he wanted her to call.

And she'd left his home when he'd ordered her to go.

Gone back to her class and looked them over and been quieter than normal.

Her students hadn't known what had happened, but they knew there'd been something. They were clever. It was why she tolerated them. Liked them.

After five days of her students, one class in particular, completely failing to hide their concern and confusion, Adelaide picked one most likely to be confident enough to speak with her in private.

"Shireen?" Adelaide called, still in the process of cleaning the board after that class's lecture on a recent discovery by one of the previous professor's friends – she was continuing his syllabus until St Luke gave her the authority to create her own. It had been mildly interesting, if extremely trivial. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

A wave of something went through the few students who remained in the room, though Adelaide couldn't place a finger on what. "Of course, Professor Noble." The name was still odd for Adelaide to hear, but she was adjusting to it.

Adelaide waited those last few seconds while the class completely emptied before speaking again. "Is there some sort of problem?"

"I don't understand."

"You've all been acting differently recently. I am interested to know if you can perhaps shed some light on the reasoning."

"Um...it's you." Adelaide turned, arms crossing in the process, at that statement. "You've been acting...different."

"How so?"

"Just...different. Sometimes you'll look at one of us and your eyes will go strange. Some of the other sessions have noticed too." Shireen eyed her. Adelaide remembered she'd never asked a student to stay after before. This was different too. "Is everything alright?"

Adelaide forced her smile and hated that she was so aware it was forced. "Everything is fine, Shireen. Kindly pass on that message to your fellow students. You can go."

Once Adelaide was alone, she twisted the bracelet. The Doctor's bracelet. The bracelet that she should take off, she knew she should, if there was any time she should take it off it would be now.

But she didn't want to. She kept it.

Kept that reminder of him and when they'd had that small period of pure happiness together. When she hadn't been a protector and he hadn't been victorious.

But when he'd been locked in a box because he'd interfered too much and their enemies had first called her the protector. When he'd waltzed through a man's past to change his soul.

As lovely as that time had felt then, as happy as she'd been...it made her sick. To have done what she'd did, to have helped him...she hadn't wanted to, she'd known she hadn't wanted to, and yet she'd done it anyway.

She'd done it all because she loved him. She'd sacrificed her own morals because she loved him. She'd tried to make herself into someone she hated because she loved him.

No more.

Adelaide hadn't wanted to think about him, not now. Not with Clara so freshly dead.

Clara had told her to forgive.

Adelaide wished she'd had time to be specific.

|C-S|

When the Doctor breathed again, he stepped out of the teleport and remembered Clara Oswald.

Remembered her death. Remembered it was his fault, his mistake, his guilt.

And their fault.

He let the sand on the ground drift through his fingers and remembered it was their fault.

"If you think because she is dead, I am weak, then you understand very little." He spoke to the air, but he knew they were listening. "If you were any part of killing her, and you're not afraid, then you understand nothing at all. So, for your own sake, understand this. I am the Doctor. I'm coming to find you, and I will never, ever stop."

The Doctor knew that Adelaide would have screamed. He ignored the memory of her. The feeling of her eyes on him. The pain of her judgment. Her shame.

He left the room and walked along the corridor, picking one of the windows at random to look out of. In the distance below him, he could see spokes. "The equipment in that room is consistent with an augmented ultra-long-range teleport. So, I'm not more than a single light-year from where I was, and I'm in the same time zone."

He moved down to look out another window. More towers. More sky. More mystery. He started to walk backward. "When the sun sets, I'll be able to establish an exact position by the stars. Then you'll have a choice. Come out, show yourself, or keep on hiding. Clara said I shouldn't take revenge. You should know, I don't always listen."

|C-S|

For someone who had never enjoyed teaching on Gallifrey, the degree to which Adelaide was enjoying her stay at St Luke was surprising. If anything, she should have hated teaching humans so much more than she hated teaching child Gallifreyans. But she didn't.

She almost liked it.

It appeared the Doctor's appreciation of humanity was quite contagious.

Once, Adelaide would have hated that fact.

But appreciating humanity wasn't the worst thing she could have caught from the Doctor.

True, being stuck in one place for such an extended period was not something she was looking forward to. She could be patient when she tried – she had spent all those centuries on Christmas, after all – but it was difficult. She'd only really lasted so long on Christmas because of the variable activity assisting the Doctor against their enemies had been.

Here, on Earth, with no enemies to fight, started to make Adelaide jumpy after barely two months. She was surprised she'd lasted so long.

And she was surprised she lasted even longer.

She shouldn't have been.

Adelaide lasted longer because she ran away from her desire to run away. She shoved it deep inside herself, nestled it somewhere safe, and ignored it. Focused on humans and students and being someone who didn't have to worry about messing with time and interfering and being victorious when she'd never stepped on a battlefield.

She had always been someone who ran away. The observer. The watcher. The scientist who didn't dare touch what she studied. Then, when the time came, when she was pushed, Adelaide ran away.

She'd run away from Gallifrey when the pressure had come to settle and marry and participate in the society of airhead pricks who thought they deserved worship for writing down laws they hadn't created.

She'd run away from responsibility whenever she accidentally made too much of an impact, pretending she hadn't done anything, hadn't overstepped any boundaries, self-imposed or otherwise.

She'd run away from the guilt of knowing how many innocent people she was leaving to die. She told herself it was to protect the rest of the universe and turned herself human so that they couldn't find her and she didn't have to remember and she didn't have to worry.

And now she'd run away again. Because that's what she'd done.

When Adelaide had decided to leave the Doctor, to take a break, she'd told herself that she just needed to find out who she was. She just needed to determine who she actually was.

The only problem with telling herself that, with pretending that was why she'd run back to the isolation of her own TARDIS, was that she knew it wasn't true.

Adelaide was well aware of exactly who she was. She'd always been. Hyper aware. Conscious of all those shifts in regenerations some Time Lords had claimed didn't exist.

Adelaide was polite because it made people like you and it was easier, not because she thought it was a kind thing to do.

She liked truth and facts because they were so much simpler. So much clearer.

She hated not knowing. Hated the idea of mysteries so much that she loved them because having a mystery meant she could solve something and having the answer was the best part.

She liked green. Olive green, specifically.

She saw steps and progression and logic in everything, even the impossible. And when she didn't, she studied it until she did.

She loved strawberries.

She knew the Laws of Time came from the universe, not Time Lords. That understanding them didn't mean you got to subvert them.

She protested.

She ran away.

She was the protector. She was Time Lady Victorious.

She stood opposite the Doctor and tried to make him stop before he tore himself and the universe apart.

She knew that. She'd always known that. Known that even as Caroline Alice Attwater while the Doctor had been attempting to save a doomed Mars base and a doomed scientist named Adelaide Brooke.

She had starlight in her soul and she knew when you had to say no.

Adelaide knew that she'd run from the Doctor for no reason other than the fact she'd gotten afraid. She'd gotten close to someone, let herself love someone so entirely that she would have done anything for them. She'd never done that before. Never gotten comfortable enough with someone to allow that to happen. Never wanted it to happen before. Never wanted it to stop now that it had.

She could tolerate standing opposite the Doctor. She could. She was strong, she was Adelaide. She could do it. She could do it for an eternity if she needed to.

She would protect the universe because she knew the Doctor just wanted to save it.

Why couldn't they just be the same thing?

Why couldn't saving the universe mean respecting fixed events and respecting choices individuals made?

Adelaide pressed her hands to her face and breathed deep, rolling her fingertips in circles on her forehead. She was sitting outside despite the cold of the mid-January day. The cold was nothing to a Time Lady, after all.

She didn't want to see the Doctor again.

And she did. She wanted to see him so badly. Wanted to see that glint of mischief and curiosity and know that there was someone else in the whole universe who actually understood.

When her phone rang, it shocked her into nearly falling over. It shouldn't have been that surprising, given the fact that her number was the one the Doctor and she had given to most people they'd encountered over their travels, but it had been silent ever since Clara had called talking of mysteries.

Adelaide moved slowly to answer it. "Hello?"

"Is this the Time Lady known as Adelaide?" she didn't recognize the voice.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"I am the current holder of the Fatality Index. My name is Rafando."

"Why have you called?" She remembered giving them her number, though she didn't remember which of her faces it had been.

"The Fatality Index stipulates that a Time Lord is required to carry out the sentence of another Time Lord."

Adelaide wanted to cry, but she couldn't. All sound failed her. Something rang in her ears. "Can I know the identity of the Time Lord you have to kill?"

There was a pause, and Adelaide wondered if Rafando was checking the Index for any mention of telling the person being summoned to execute someone the identity of the one to be executed. "It is not him."

Adelaide knew who it was, then, and though she would have very much liked to see the other last Time Lady again, she couldn't. Her TARDIS couldn't go that far.

"I am incapable of reaching you, at the moment. It would be easier for both of us if I pass you along to him." If he was still alive. If he still had a TARDIS. "If you are unable to reach him, you may call me again."

"Very well. I will await the information." Rafando hung up.

She never heard from him again.

But she never stopped waiting for her phone to ring and for her to know that the Doctor was dead and never coming back.

She wished she'd asked Rafando to call if he'd been able to contact the Doctor. Then, at least, she would have known. Then she could have stopped waiting. Stopped hoping. Stopped missing.

|C-S|

The Doctor liked subverting expectations. He liked overturning logic.

He was well aware of how much Adelaide hated and loved that quality of his personality.

He wasn't actually in his console, but all Time Lords had personal mental landscapes. His just happened to take the form of his current TARDIS background. It helped that that was where he was most times he took this deep of a dive.

"Sorry I'm late. Jumped out of a window. Certain death." He was speaking to the air. Speaking to himself. Speaking to a woman he could feel hovering in the air, green eyes begging to solve the mystery. "Don't you want to know how I survived? Go on. Ask me! No, of course I had to jump! The first rule of being interrogated is that you are the only irreplaceable person in the torture chamber. The room is yours, so work it. If they're going to threaten you with death, show them who's boss. Die faster. And you've done it yourself, haven't you, Adelaide?" Both Time Lady and human companion were in that room, in his head, but Adelaide was the only one who was screaming.

Not actually. Adelaide wasn't someone who screamed.

"Rule one of dying: don't. Rule two: slow down." He saw someone from the corner of his eye, sitting where she always sat, where she'd claimed. A space she'd made he'd never interfered with. "You've got the rest of your life. The faster you think, the slower it will pass. Concentrate. Assume you're going to survive. Always assume that." Even now, the Doctor wanted her to know that.

Even when she wasn't actually there.

"Imagine you've already survived. There's a storm room in your mind – though, in your case, it's probably more of a laboratory. Lock the door and think. This" he gestured to the room, turning in place "is my storm room. I always imagine that I'm back in the TARDIS, showing off, making you smile. That's what I'm doing right now. I am falling. I'm dying. And I am going to explain to you how I survived." He couldn't help but grin. "I can't wait to hear what I say. I'm nothing without an audience." He was nothing alone, but he let that part lie, even now. "One hope. You probably noticed it way before I did. Salt."

Adelaide always noticed things before he did.

"Thought I smelled it earlier. When I broke the window, I was sure. Salty air. This castle is standing in the sea." He'd been doing rounds around the console and that time, when he passed the scanner, it showed a schematic. "Diving into water from a great height is no guarantee of survival. I need to know exactly how far I'm going to fall, and how fast." Calculations had started.

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw her smiling. The Doctor had always liked Adelaide's smile.

"Why do you think I threw the stool? Fall time to impact...seven seconds. The wind resistance of the stool, the atmospheric density, the strength of the local gravity. Of course, you've already solved this mystery, but we can't all be a scientist. Sometimes, you have to be a magician. Should hit the water in about...point zero two seconds. The chances of remaining conscious are..."

The TARDIS went dark. A full dark, a dark that Adelaide, even in the TARDIS, would have been terrified of. The type of dark that only had a place in nightmares.

Then the lights came back. Slowly, bulb by bulb.

There hadn't been a blackboard before, but the Doctor was facing one now, looking at her perfect handwriting. She'd written her note in Gallifreyan. He could almost see her standing beside it, arms crossed, looking like the first regeneration he'd ever seen. The one he'd watched, once, from the back of a class despite being told specifically not to do so.

He'd liked her then, even if he'd had no idea who she actually was and what she actually thought. He'd been able to tell that they wanted the same things.

They wanted to solve the mysteries.

 _Question 1 – What is this place?_

"Always with the theories," he mumbled.

 _Question 2 – What did you say that made the creature stop?_

"Can't we just stop?"

 _An order – Solve it._

|C-S|

Adelaide made a habit of sitting outside despite the cold on most days. It made it easier to hide the guilt, somehow, if there was no one around who could judge her.

She missed him. Adelaide had never really, honestly, missed someone before.

This feeling came on in waves. Adelaide had felt it in mid-January, and then she'd spent the rest of that human month firmly of the opinion that fixed events were more important than singular Time Lords. But now it was February, and Adelaide missed him again, and it hurt.

It wasn't just that she missed his presence, though she did. She was not above saying that she missed his eyes and his grin and his perpetual dedication to running and refusal to even try to fix his TARDIS's chameleon circuit.

She missed _him_...which was a very difficult thing for someone like her to both comprehend and admit to. It was not logical to miss someone like him, not when you were someone like her. It was not logical to love someone like him. But she did it. She was doing it.

She didn't forgive him, for any of it. She clung to that feeling. Relied on it. She could miss him and love him and want him, but she couldn't forgive him.

No matter how much she, sometimes, wanted to.

"Excuse me?" Adelaide jumped at the sound of a voice she didn't recognize. "Sorry! I thought you were asleep." It was Shireen. The girl was excessively bundled, at least in Adelaide's opinion. "Are you alright?"

Adelaide's eyes felt a little wet, but she was firm in her belief it was a reaction to the cold and had nothing to do whatsoever with missing the Doctor more than her twin hearts could stand. "I'm fine."

Shireen glanced around the table Adelaide was sitting at. "Where's your coat?"

"I'm used to the cold." The Doctor would have loved that statement. He would have smirked at the underlying double meaning, the easy twist of interpretation. "But thank you for checking on me, Shireen."

The human shrugged. "It's no big deal. Glad that you're fine." She laughed and looked uneasy. Adelaide made a note to remember to wear her coat. It had been easy to remember with the Doctor around, him always tossing her the sweater or jacket she'd decided on for that day – after his regeneration, she'd started to rotate between a longer leather style and the sweater she'd started with. The Doctor had once said that was the only indication she gave to the wider world about her mood.

When Shireen stepped away, saying that she'd see Adelaide later, in class, Adelaide closed her eyes.

Maybe missing him this time would go away like it had the first time. Maybe she could go back to hating him and being glad that she didn't have to spend her days keeping him from destroying the universe.

Maybe everything didn't have to hurt so much. Maybe it could all just stop.

No.

Adelaide sat up straight at that thought. No. She wouldn't think that. Even she wouldn't do that. Wouldn't think like that.

She could want to separate emotions. She could want to suppress them and run from them and hide from them. But she would not, could not, think like that again.

She was not going to let herself die that easily. Not this time.

|C-S|

He was back in the TARDIS. Or digging his own grave, falling back as death reached for him, depending on how you looked at it.

Clara had started talking too, her handwriting discernably different from Adelaide's and not only because the human's words were in English and the Time Lady's in Gallifreyan. Even in his head, he couldn't shut Clara up.

"Well, that was another close one. Or it will have been, once I've been and gone and got myself out of it. So, how am I going to do that? Give me some theories about my personal salvation!"

He blinked, and Adelaide had written something.

 _A statement – Tell no lies._

After all, lying wasn't rational. It caused more trouble than it was worth. It wasn't polite.

The Doctor had always found it sickeningly amusing that Adelaide always lied to him. Always lied to herself. Everything Adelaide ever did was a lie. He'd always been a liar, but he knew for a fact that he couldn't be blamed for Adelaide's reliance on them. She probably did, but even Adelaide was wrong sometimes.

 _Question 2 – What did you say that made the creature stop?_

The Doctor nodded. "The truth, yes." He'd admitted it from the top of the tower. Admitted it and known it and hoped that it, above everything else, was a sentiment Adelaide shared, for once. "But not any old truth. This whole place is designed to terrify me. I'm being interrogated. It's not just truth it wants – it would just show me your disappointed face if it did. That's not enough. It's confession. I have to tell truths I've never told before. That's the only thing that stops it."

Adelaide was quiet. She was quiet more than she spoke, even now. Always a listener. Always waiting for confession.

"You see, the problem is there are truths I can never tell. Not for anything." The Doctor sat on the steps and imagined Adelaide was standing above him, hands on the railing, book abandoned but neatly put away behind her. Bearing witness. Deciding if she needed to step in and be the protector that she'd never wanted to be. "But I'm scared and I'm alone. Alone, and very, very scared." He closed his eyes and was not in the TARDIS. "I confess."

He was in the garden.

"I didn't leave Gallifrey because I was bored! That was a lie! It's always been a lie!"

It paused, but it did not stop.

"Not enough? You want more? I was scared! I ran because I was scared! Is that what you want me to say? Is that true enough for you?"

It drew away. For now, confession enough.

Adelaide would have had the same confession. Even if she'd never said it, even if she'd always proclaimed that she'd left Gallifrey because she'd hated it and the people that inhabited it, the Doctor knew the real reason.

She ran away.

|C-S|

When the Doctor died, and died again, and broke crystal, and spoke of eternity, he thought of Adelaide. Thought of truth and confession and every bastard thing she tried to enforce.

He stepped out of the Azbantium onto the surface of a planet that he knew well. It had been centuries, but he remembered it. He would always remember it. There was no ocean in sight, but the Doctor thought it beautiful, in its own way. In the way home always would be.

Cutting. Terrifying. But familiar.

There was a snap as the hole he'd emerged through closed behind him. The Doctor knelt to pick up the thing that had dropped. He recognized it. His confession dial. His prison.

A young boy, unfamiliar and known at the same moment, ran up to him. The Doctor didn't even look before he began to speak. "Go to the city. Find somebody important. Tell them I'm back. Tell them, I know what they did, and I'm on my way. And if they ask you who I am, tell them I came the long way round."

The boy did not question him. He just turned and ran, making for the Citadel. It would have been Adelaide's prison, that place, if she'd been there to see it. The whole planet would have been her prison.

The Doctor lifted the confession dial closer to his mouth, speaking into it. "You can probably still hear me, so just between ourselves, you've got the prophecy wrong. The Hybrid is not half Dalek. Nothing is half Dalek. The Daleks would never allow that. The Hybrid destined to conquer Gallifrey and stand in its ruins," the Doctor slipped on his sonic sunglasses, "is me."

And there was no Protector left to stand in his way.

 **A/N: What an amazing episode to watch, and a really fun one to write!**


	19. War Room

**War Room**

It was not a good day to be a Gallifreyan.

The Doctor was back. Angry, and sans Adelaide.

Those two qualifiers were not necessarily responsible for one another, with each having their own perfectly separate explanations. But they were also unequivocally tied together.

Aligned, as a Gallifreyan may have said – particularly, a young one, who'd yet to fully embrace or understand the gravity their planet applied to that word.

The Doctor being angry or being without Adelaide were each cause for concern on their own, especially after Ohila casually – extremely intentionally – let it slip that the two were Aligned. If the Time Lady were with him while he was angry, there was at least a small chance that she would deter him from doing something extremely dangerous or idiotic. If he was happy while she wasn't, then whatever situation he'd found himself in would simply continue with quite a bit more rudeness than the universe had come to expect.

But the Doctor angry and without Adelaide...best to run away.

Currently, instead, the General, Rassilon, and Ohila were watching the Doctor eat soup.

"What's his plan?" Rassilon asked, frowning at the man who defied odds.

"I think," Ohila, the woman who'd known that a protector and a warrior would always be drawn together, "he's finishing his soup."

The General looked to Rassilon. "Suggestion, sir." They watched the Doctor stand. They watched the Doctor reenter the building. "We could talk to him."

"Words are his weapons."

"When did they stop being ours?"

|C-S|

The General went himself to speak to the Doctor. He was glad that the man opened the door when he knocked. Perhaps Adelaide had had an effect on him after all. Perhaps they didn't all need to feel quite so afraid that he was so angry at them.

"Welcome home, sir. As commander of the armed forces of Gallifrey, I bring you the greetings of the High Council."

The Doctor said nothing. He turned around and returned inside. Perhaps Adelaide's reported preference for politeness – the General remembered that from the one time he'd personally spoken to the woman – hadn't fully made its mark yet.

The General pulled up his wrist communicator to speak to Rassilon. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

"The man who won the Time War, sir," the General said.

Time Lord Victorious.

|C-S|

Rassilon was confused. Confused and angry.

Once, that would have warranted the same reaction as the Doctor being simply angry. But this was a different Rassilon and this was a different Gallifrey.

"What is he doing? What does he want? Revenge?"

Ohila looked at him. He'd never liked that. "The Doctor does not blame Gallifrey for the horrors of the Time War."

"I should hope not."

"He just blames you."

Rassilon only barely resisted his scoff. "Shouldn't he blame her?"

"It was never her war."

|C-S|

When the Doctor walked out, all of them were waiting for him.

He threw his confession dial at them. "Get off my planet."

"We needed to know," Rassilon said and the Doctor thought Adelaide would probably enjoy treating him to one of her stern silences. She was so good at giving those. At judging you. At being right. "You have information about the Hybrid. A danger to all of us. If you'd told us what you knew, you could have walked out of there."

"Get off my planet."

"You have nothing, Doctor. Nothing! Do you know what I have, out here in the Dry Lands, where there's nobody who matters?" He dropped to a whisper. "No witnesses."

The Doctor matched his volume. "Me too."

"Take aim! Aim at the Doctor. Fire on my command."

The soldiers behind Rassilon didn't immediately obey.

"Sir?" the General – he'd tried to convince Adelaide to help Gallifrey, the Doctor remembered her sharing that after they'd saved Gallifrey with their past regenerations.

"Step forward and take aim! What's the matter with you?"

The General glanced at the Doctor. "Lord President, he's a war hero. Some of these men served with him."

The Doctor was curious about what they would have done if Adelaide had stood before them. If they'd been faced with the Time Lady who'd run away from a planet in need, who'd never stepped foot on a battlefield. Did they hate her? Revere her?

"These men serve me! All of you! On my command."

The soldiers obeyed. The Doctor closed his eyes. Rassilon looked away.

He did remind the Doctor of Adelaide. She wouldn't have wanted to get her hands dirty like this.

Granted, she would never have been put in this situation in the first place, so it was a bit difficult to decide exactly how she would react.

"Fire!"

The soldiers obeyed.

To a point.

When the General and Rassilon looked again, the strength of the door behind the Doctor was proudly displayed. Someone should really send compliments to the creator.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was unharmed.

"You missed. All of you. Every single one of you! How is that possible? What is it? Is the firing squad afraid of the unarmed man?" Rassilon grabbed one of the soldiers. "You, explain."

"There was a saying, sir, in the Time War."

Rassilon raised his eyebrows. "A saying?"

"The first thing you will notice about the Doctor of War is he's unarmed. For many, it's also the last." The soldier pulled himself away from Rassilon and dropped his gun, standing by the Doctor. "I was at Skull Moon, sir."

Four more soldiers followed suit.

After all, Time Lords Victorious were well known to the people they'd left and tried to save. The Doctor made a note to ask them about the individual specifics.

Did they know of Adelaide's role, if unwilling, in saving this planet? Did they know how much she did hate that she'd been forced to abandon them, the calculation she'd been forced to make? Or did they only know of the Time Lady who'd run away, who'd abandoned them to the war?

"Not one more of you moves! That is an order!" Two more soldiers joined the Doctor. "A direct order of your President! You leave me no choice." Rassilon activated his gauntlet. "How many regenerations did we grant you? I've got all night." The man glanced behind himself as four more ships arrived, grinning. "Excellent, General. You sent for reinforcements."

"No, he didn't," the Doctor corrected, slipping on his sonic sunglasses. "I did."

The final soldiers stepped over the line in the sand. The gunships turned their weapons on Rassilon. The Doctor tried to ignore his internal Adelaide's exasperation at the gratuitous, in her opinion, use of weapons. Granted, even if Gallifrey appreciated Adelaide now, he would have been surprised if the soldiers felt any particular unity towards her. Even if she'd saved Gallifrey, she'd still never set foot on a battlefield.

She had a legacy of destruction, some may say, but she'd never touched a battlefield. The Doctor had never decided if he hated or loved that about her.

"What?" Rassilon asked, sputtering, clinging. Adelaide would have loved to see him in such a state. "I am Rassilon the redeemer! Rassilon, the resurrected! Gallifrey is mine!"

The General moved between Rassilon and the Doctor, blocking the man from harm. "Lord President, with respect, get off his planet." The General threw his weapon alongside the rest and stood beside the Doctor.

Rassilon was abandoned.

|C-S|

The Doctor watched Rassilon fly away from the Citadel. He had, to his credit, allowed the legendary Time Lord to survive, though it had been a difficult decision. A difficult place to stop himself from going.

He was fairly certain he did the right thing to spite Adelaide. To show her – and the universe – that he didn't need a protector. That he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Gallifrey is currently positioned at the extreme end of the time continuum, for its own protection," the General explained. "We're at the end of the universe, give or take a star system."

The Doctor nodded. "I know. I came the long way round."

The General glanced at where the ship had been. "The President may not find anywhere to go."

"He's not the President anymore."

"He was a good man once. Isn't this going a little far?"

The Doctor turned. "Oh, I've barely started. Tell the High Council they're on the next shuttle." He made to move but stopped.

He wasn't in the dial anymore, but he could still feel Adelaide and Clara watching from just over his shoulder. Both poised to question him, judge him, become him. Teacher and assistant.

"Adelaide."

The General was wary, but he nodded. "Yes."

"Is she a good woman?"

The General understood what he meant. "She is the Betrayer. She stands against the Protector of Gallifrey."

The Adelaide over his shoulder smiled. "She is their monster."

"In a sense."

"How so?"

"She is not a Dalek."

|C-S|

The Doctor went to the Cloisters and found Ohila waiting. He thought that she and Clara would have been great friends. She came back with him.

He threw his confession dial on the table of the council chamber.

"If you wanted to know about the Hybrid, why didn't you just ask me?" the Doctor now spoke to the General. He could see Adelaide standing at the window, watching the aftershocks of the war, not wanting to interfere, not even to help.

That was one thing the Doctor had never understood. How she could have done nothing, tried nothing.

"If the Hybrid is a threat to the people of this world," the General said, "why don't you just tell us?"

"What do you know already?"

The General sat. "The Hybrid is a legendary..."

"No."

He began again. "The Hybrid is a creature thought to be crossbred from two warrior races."

"Which races?"

"The Daleks and the Time Lords, it is supposed."

The Doctor was glad he hadn't said 'assumed'. She never liked it when other people assumed. "Oh, must be well hard, then."

The General nodded. "Unstoppable. According to the stories."

"If they're just stories, why are you so worried?"

"Some Matrix prophecies suggest..."

"No."

"Many prophecies suggest..."

"No."

"All Matrix prophecies concur that this creature will one day stand in the ruins of Gallifrey. It will unravel the Web of Time and destroy a billion billion hearts to heal its own."

Not Adelaide, definitely. She wouldn't dare do such a thing to her beloved Web of Time.

It was a good thing she wasn't around.

"What color is it?"

The General blinked. "I don't know."

The Doctor sighed. "Prophecies, they never tell you anything useful, do they?"

"This is no time to play the fool," Ohila snapped, sitting at the table as well.

"It's the end of the universe. It's the only time I've got." He looked back at the General. "And you want me to keep you all safe."

"Can you?"

"I'll need help, obviously."

"Gallifrey is at your command."

The Doctor waved a hand. "Oh, not from you lot. No, you'd cramp my style. Look at your hats. I'm going to need the use of an extraction chamber, to talk to an old friend." Before he stood, he glanced where Adelaide would have stood. Where she would have spent this conversation. "Not the Betrayer, in case you were worried."

On the contrary, that statement was what made the General worry.

The Doctor noticed.

|C-S|

When Clara stepped into the white room, she was not surprised to see the Doctor. His faces, after all, would always be there, waiting for her. Enticing her. Exciting her.

She was also not surprised to see that Adelaide was not with him, wherever they were. Adelaide never wanted to be that close. She hadn't even wanted to watch Clara die – which, frankly, was something Clara should have been doing right then instead of standing here, in the white room, looking at a Time Lord Victorious.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

She glanced around, though she didn't dare let her gaze drift too far from his face. "Where am I? Is this the TARDIS?"

"No. This is a planet."

"What planet?"

"Basically, my place."

Clara looked at him fully again. "I was about to die. I should be dead."

He waved a hand. He loved waving hands. "Forget about that. It doesn't matter."

Clara felt she could hear Adelaide's reaction. Could feel the Time Lady's expression hardening, drifting into the protector of the universe, the protector of time. Becoming the thing she hated being, but couldn't help. "Hang on, your place?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean, your place?" Clara knew what he meant, but she hoped she'd guessed wrong.

"My place."

"You don't mean..."

He nodded. He was grinning. "Yeah."

"Gallifrey?"

"Gallifrey."

Clara blinked. "Okay. Er...hang on...wait. What? Did I miss something?"

He shrugged. "Well, we're several billion years in the future and the universe is pretty much over, so, yeah, quite a lot."

One of the other people in the room – who Clara had neglected to notice until then, which made her momentarily glad Adelaide wasn't there to scold, as, somehow, the Time Lady would have known the rudeness – stepped forward. "Young lady, Miss Oswald, I'm afraid we only have a very few minutes with you."

To her credit, the reason Clara didn't notice anyone else was due to her noticing that she wasn't noticing something else. Something far more important. She just didn't know yet. "Who's he?"

"According to the Doctor, you can tell us something about the creature known as the Hybrid."

Clara had begun to notice that she wasn't noticing. She was being a terrible student of Adelaide. "Oh...oh, that's weird. What's wrong with my ears?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, it's weird. Everything sounds wrong."

"It's a side effect."

"I can hear you." Clara pointed at the Time Lord. "I can hear you fine. It's like, I don't know, it's like...er...it's like something's missing."

The man she hadn't noticed stepped closer to the Doctor. "Doctor, we have to tell her. We always tell them."

He was speaking so that Clara couldn't hear, but she did. "Tell me what? What's he talking about? Doctor? Doctor, what's going on?"

"Clara, there's a sound you've been living with every day of your life, but you've learned not to hear."

"What sound? What's wrong? Just tell me. Doctor, what sound?"

He didn't want to tell her. But sometimes you had to do things you didn't want to do. "Your heartbeat. Your physical processes have been time looped. Frozen between one heartbeat and the next. Even your breathing is just a habit. You don't need it."

Clara tried not breathing. It was simple in an impossible way. "If I'm frozen, how can I...how can I be walking about?"

"Because the Time Lords are very clever. It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me!"

"Doctor," the man tried again, "we have to explain."

"Doctor, what is going on?"

The man didn't let the Doctor speak again. "Although you are currently conscious and aware, in fact, you died billions of years ago."

A fact Clara had known and not known and suddenly couldn't stop knowing. "Doctor?"

"We have extracted you at the very end of your time stream to request your help. Once we're finished here, you will be returned to your final moments. Your death is an established historical event and cannot be altered. I'm sorry."

Clara's only thought was to wonder if that meant she was Aligned. Then she looked to the Time Lord and knew that she had to remember to not only be the Doctor. "Doctor, will you just talk to me!"

He was glaring at her, but it wasn't at her, just in her physical direction. "I'll try not to break your jaw."

"My jaw?"

"I wasn't talking to you." The Doctor turned and punched the General, using the shock to grab the man's weapon and point it back at him.

"Doctor, you can't do this," the man said. "You know you can't."

"No, General, I don't know that." The Doctor glared around at the rest of the few people in the room. "Everybody, stay exactly where you are! No moving about. On pain of death, no-one take a selfie!"

"These people are unarmed."

The Doctor shrugged. "So are you."

"Doctor, I will not let you leave here." But the man didn't move. "That's the sidearm of the President's personal security. There isn't a stun setting."

"I will not let Clara die."

The General was wishing for Adelaide. Clara could see it in his eyes. Could tell that this Time Lord knew that the Time Lady, despite hating her people, despite abandoning them, upheld one of the tenants of their civilization. Would do so until her dying breath, and then would probably find some way to do so after that. Adelaide protected time, and time very much needed protecting now.

But Adelaide wasn't here.

"She's been dead for half the lifetime of the universe. If you tried to change that, you could fracture Time itself. Doctor, Lord President, are you really going to take that risk?"

"Doctor," Clara tried. She would never be able to live up to Adelaide, but she could try, now, for the Time Lady's sake. "Please, I don't want this. Put it down, please."

"Regeneration?" He wasn't moving.

"Tenth."

"Good luck."

"You too, sir."

The Doctor shot the General. There was no Adelaide over his shoulder. She had no place in him now. He'd locked her out. "I want a neural block," he addressed the technicians but didn't quite look at them. "Human compatible. Quickly! Come on!" One of the technicians – time scientists, some part of Clara offered – handed him one and the Doctor grabbed Clara's arm. "Come on, quick!"

They started running after they left the room.

"You killed that man!" Clara, still pulled along by him, though he'd switched to her hand, shouted. "You shot him! He's dead!"

"It was him or you."

"I don't care!"

"Yeah? Well, the difference is, when you die, you stay dead." They'd reached a lift and the Doctor decided which floor they were going to go to.

"I don't care!" Clara knew what regeneration meant. She knew they were on Gallifrey and the man was a Time Lord and he would be completely fine. But this was still the Doctor and this was still a gun and for a man who'd always said that regeneration felt like death he was being incredibly hypocritical. Dangerously hypocritical. "It wasn't your choice to make."

Clara didn't know it, but the Doctor felt a flash of Adelaide and pushed it far, far away. Ran far, far away from the only Time Lady who could really stand opposite him.

The lift arrived and the Doctor led the way out, releasing her hand. Somehow, Clara knew they'd arrived somewhere called the Cloisters. She wondered if someone had mentioned it while she'd been too busy realizing that she was dead and wasn't. Adelaide would have hated it; it was very dark.

"I thought you said Gallifrey was frozen in another dimension?"

"Well, they must have unfrozen it and come back."

Clara frowned. "How?"

"I didn't ask. It would make them feel clever." He followed her gaze down to his hand and the weapon still there and tossed it aside. She didn't like that he'd forgotten he'd been holding it. "Happy?"

"No." Clara could understand why Adelaide hated to be this person. It wasn't a nice feeling to say no to the Doctor. To try and calm him, stop him. She – though she did think rather highly of herself – didn't know if she'd actually be able to do it. "Tell me what a neural block is."

"Never mind. This way." He turned to the side, starting off in that direction.

"What did you mean, human-compatible?"

That time, he was saved from answering by screeches from inside the Cloisters. A sound that made Clara very aware that she no longer had a heart.

"The Cloister Wraiths," he explained. "Sliders, we used to call them. They guard the Matrix. We're safe in here."

"Why?"

"They only attack if you make any attempt to leave."

Clara raised her eyebrows. "How long are we planning to stay?"

"Or, actually, if you try to stay."

She would have blinked at him if she were surprised but, honestly, there wasn't much the Doctor could do that would surprise Clara Oswald anymore. "You realize how well that conversation went, right?"

"Starting to, yeah, a bit." A Wraith, which all wore traditional Time Lord regalia, moved past them, it's face flickering. It looked like it was screaming. "This way, I'm fairly sure. According to the stories, there's a secret way out. If you find it, the Sliders let you go."

"Exterminate!" a Dalek shouted, making them spin, Doctor moving to guard her, but his defenses quickly fell.

"It's okay," he said, stepping to the side. "It's okay, look at it."

The Dalek wasn't moving. It was trapped in what looked like vines and there was liquid running from its eyestalk that didn't look natural to the creature inside. "Exterminate me."

Clara eyed the vine-like-things. "Is it trapped?"

"Don't worry, it's been neutralized. Those aren't vines. In your terms, they're fiber-optic cables, they're alive and growing. We're inside the biggest database in history. Sometimes, people are stupid enough to break in."

"And?"

"It's a database. They get filed."

"Exterminate me," the Dalek was quieter then. Pained. Suffering.

"Probably a leftover from the Cloister Wars. There's nothing we can do. Come on."

"Exterminate me...exterminate me..."

Clara followed the Doctor deeper into the Cloisters, but this was not a place meant for people to follow each other through. She saw a Weeping Angel, trapped in the cables, and hurried past it. But then it was in front of her. And another.

But these were old Angels, and Clara slipped past them with ease.

Until a Cyberman grabbed her.

Clara, despite her terror, was struck with how fitting a Cyberman attempting to stop her.

The Doctor pulled her free. That also felt fitting. It all made Clara miss Adelaide. "Keep away from them! The Matrix can use them as a defense. It means the secret exit must be close."

"What's to defend in a crypt?"

"It's not a crypt," the Doctor clarified. "More like a stone circuit board. This is the Matrix database."

Clara stopped walking, turning to face him. "Database? What do you mean, database?"

Instead of answering, the Doctor looked down. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"Oh."

"Oh?" She looked down. She was standing a panel of Gallifreyan text lit from below. "Oh."

The Doctor rubbed an area clean with his foot to see it better. "Looks like the primary service hatch. Just have to work out the key."

"Oh."

He grinned at her. This was his plan working. "When Time Lords die, their minds are uploaded to a thing called the Matrix. This structure, it's like a living computer. It can predict the future, generate prophecies out of algorithms, ring the Cloister bells in the event of impending catastrophe. The Sliders, they're just like the guard dogs, the firewall. Projections from inside the Matrix itself. the dead, manning the battlements."

Clara shook her head. "Was I supposed to understand any of that?"

He looked to the side as though Adelaide would have been there to supply the less decorated, more logical explanation, and then tried to pretend that he hadn't. "The Time Lords have got a big computer made of ghosts, in a crypt, guarded by more ghosts." He got to his hands and knees to run his fingers along the words.

Clara crouched to match him. "Why would a computer need to protect itself from the people who made it?"

"All computers do that in the end. You wait until the internet starts. Oh, that was a war!" As the Doctor ran his hands over some of the marks, they reacted, registering something. "A long time ago, there was a student at the Academy. He got in here, disappeared for four days. Showed up in a completely different part of the city. Said the Sliders talked to him, they showed him the secret passage out. And we just need the code." He pulled out his notebook, glancing at something.

"What, and the kid told you the secret?"

"Ah, no, he didn't tell anyone anything. He went completely mad. Never right in the head again, so they say."

Clara didn't nod. "Okay, that's encouraging."

"The last I heard, he stole the moon and the President's wife."

Clara had already guessed what that statement confirmed. You couldn't have spent as long around Adelaide as she had and not guessed. "Was she nice, the President's wife?"

He shrugged. "Ah, well, that was a lie put about by the Shabogans. It was the President's daughter. I didn't steal the moon, I lost it..."

She almost smiled. "I'd know you anywhere."

The Doctor didn't look at her. "I was a completely different person in those days. Eccentric, a bit mad, rude to people." His voice faltered on the last statement, and that was only part of the reason that Clara frowned.

"Look at me again."

He didn't. "Sorry, what?"

"In the eye. Look at me. Just do it."

He did, moving closer. "What? What is it?"

"How long has it been for you since you last saw me? Saw her?" Actually mentioning Adelaide was worse than asking the original question, but Clara did it.

"Oh, phh, I'm not sure."

"How long?"

"I was stuck in a place. They..."

"Them?"

"They wanted something from me. Information. It really doesn't matter."

"What happened to your coat? The velvety coat. I liked that one," Adelaide liked that one, Clara had seen the Time Lady's enjoyment. "It was very Doctor-y."

He shrugged. "I changed it."

"Why?"

"Well, I can't be the Doctor all the time."

Clara's heart would have sunk if she'd still had a heart that could do anything but sit, silent.

The groves made a few more sounds as the Doctor continued working. "I think I've almost got it. I think this is it."

"Tell me what they did to you. Tell me what happened to the Doctor?"

The Doctor stopped, looked at her, and did.

 **A/N: The Doctor always does get dangerous when he's alone, but I've been enjoying demonstrating some of how other Time Lords view Adelaide after what she did with the war. Conflicting perspectives are always fun ;)**


	20. Wiggle Room

**Wiggle Room**

He was close to finishing the story when the lift arrived again.

"Twenty feet of pure diamond. Harder than diamond." The lift opened. "But you break through anything, given time."

"How much time?"

It was the General and Ohila, approaching from Clara's back. "Miss Oswald."

The human glanced at them. "Stay back."

"I'm sorry, but we have to find a way to extract you..."

"I said, stay back!" She spun to order that, and they obeyed, lowering their eyes and stepping back. Clara returned her attention to the Doctor. She felt, almost, like crying. "The Hybrid, what is it? What's so important you would fight so long?"

"It doesn't matter what the Hybrid is. It only matters that I convinced them that I knew. Otherwise, they'd have kicked me out, I'd have had nothing left to bargain with."

"What were you bargaining for?" Clara knew the answer. She knew it and didn't want to know it.

"What do you think? You." There was no Adelaide left here. Clara could feel the Time Lady closing her eyes. Abandoning a burden only she could survive. Running away from something she could never escape. "I had to find a way to save you. I knew it had to be the Time Lords. They cost your life on Trap Street, Clara, and I was going to make them bring you back. I just had to hang on in there for a bit."

"How long?"

"It was fine."

Clara stood, turning to address the General – regenerated now, into a woman – and Ohila. "One question. And you will answer. How long was the Doctor trapped inside the confession dial?"

"We think four and a half billion years," Ohila said.

"He could have left any time he wanted. He just had to say what he knew. The dial would have released him."

Clara turned back to the Time Lord still waiting on his knees. He hadn't listened to Adelaide. He hadn't listened to her. "Four and a half billion years?"

He didn't look surprised. He didn't look anything. "If she says so."

Clara dropped to her knees again. "No. Why would you even do that? I was dead! I was dead and gone! I'd made my choice! Why? Why would you even do that to yourself?"

"I had a duty of care." A duty Clara had never asked for, a duty that Adelaide had tried to liberate herself from. Separate herself from. A duty that the Doctor could never forget. "Listen, I'm nearly through here." The panel made more sounds. "If I'm right, there should be a service duct under here. We'll be able to get to the old workshops. They'll have TARDISes there."

Clara grabbed his hand. "Okay, listen. I have something I need to say."

"We do not have time."

"No, my time...my time is up. Doctor, between one heartbeat and the last is all the time I have. People like me and you, we should say things to one another. And I'm going to say them now."

|C-S|

When Clara finally stood and walked back over to the General and Ohila, the two Time Lords searched for any sign of Adelaide. "You're monsters." They didn't find her. "Here you are, hiding away at the end of time. Do you even know why? Because you are hated. You are hated by everybody. But by nobody more than me."

Ohila frowned "What did you say to him?"

The human shrugged. "Oh, nothing I'm going to tell you, or anybody else. Except maybe this one part. I said..." they heard metal moving behind her, "'don't worry, Doctor. They'll all be looking at me.'"

A light appeared from the trapdoor the Doctor and Clara had found.

"You need to tell us what the Doctor is going to do now," the General tried.

"You really are thick, aren't you? The Doctor is back on Gallifrey. Took him four and a half billion years to get here. What do you think he's going to do now?" A very familiar something wheezed. "Why, he's stealing a TARDIS and running away." Clara waved. "Bye!" An original TARDIS – a large grey cylinder – appeared around her. Clara spun around to look at the console, where the Doctor was working. "You were quick."

"Time machine." The Doctor shrugged. "I backed up a bit."

"Doctor!" Ohila called, for the Doctor had yet to fully leave the Cloisters. "Doctor, face me! Doctor, can you hear me? Get out of that TARDIS and face me, boy!"

Clara smirked. "Boy?"

The Doctor, ignoring her, went to the door and stuck his head out.

Ohila may have left the Time Lord and human, but Ohila remembered her. "You have gone too far. You have broken every code you have ever lived by."

"After all this time, after everything I've done, don't you think the universe owes me this?"

Ohila, almost, didn't need to answer. The Doctor, in the furthest part of his mind, easily compared her expression with Adelaide's favorite. "Owes you what? All you're doing is giving her hope."

He narrowed his eyes. "Since when is hope a bad thing?"

"Hope is a terrible thing on the scaffold."

The Doctor didn't answer. He pulled himself back into the TARDIS and to the console where Clara was waiting. "What do you think of the new wheels?" he asked, piloting them away.

Clara eyed it. "Basic."

"Classic! Look at the color scheme."

"It's all white."

"Genius!" The Doctor thought Adelaide would have loved it, but he wasn't thinking that much about Adelaide right then. There was a jolt that nearly made them fall. "Check your heartbeat again. I think that you'll find you have one."

"Yeah?" Clara began to check.

The Doctor, meanwhile, celebrated. He was good at celebrating. "It should have restarted when we broke free of Gallifrey's time zone. You're alive! Now we just have to shake off the Time Lords. There's only one place we can do that. What do you say to lunch, followed by breakfast? Because we're time travelers and that's how we roll. Then cocktails with Moses. Then I'm going to invent a flying submarine. Why? Because no one ever has and it's annoying. And maybe we should use this TARDIS to find my proper one. I need to change my shirt."

"Doctor," Clara spoke quietly, "I still don't have a pulse."

"Oh, you just haven't found it yet. Try again."

She shook her head. "I know how to take my pulse. Look, I know how to do it. See, no pulse, right?" The Doctor put on his sonic glasses, turning her to check the back of her neck. Before she could speak, he'd stepped away, tossing the glasses off, face dark. Adelaide had stepped back to Clara's shoulder. "Is it still there? Don't lie to me."

"Er...maybe we just have to fly a little bit further, give it a bit more welly."

Clara had begun to feel incredibly guilty. The Time Lady could do that to you easily. "They said, your lot, that if you saved me, time would fracture. What does that mean?"

"Oh, they're exaggerating. They exaggerate all the time. History will be fine. Time will heal. It always does."

She raised her eyebrows. "Always?"

"Yeah. It'll sort itself out." Clara remembered what Adelaide had told her about fixed events. She knew that that wasn't how it worked. "It'll be all right. You'll have a heartbeat. Or don't you trust me anymore?"

"No, not when you're shouting. Where are we going?"

He typed something into the console. "Nowhere in space, forward in time. We're going to the last hours of the universe. We're going long past where the Time Lords were hiding. Literally, to the end. They won't be able to track us there. We'll just be there for a minute. I just need to...I need to make an adjustment."

"To what?"

He waved a hand. "It's nothing, really. It's this." He flashed the device the engineer had given him.

"The neural block. Human compatible, that's what you said."

The time rotor stopped. The TARDIS settled. "We don't have to stay here long." It was quiet. "Er...check your heartbeat again." She did. "Your timeline must have started by now. A pulse, yeah? You have a pulse, yes? Pulse? Let me do it." The Doctor reached for her, but Clara leaped out of his reach.

"I am checking it properly!"

"This should work. This has got to work."

"What if one last heartbeat is all I've got? What if time isn't healing? What if it's a fixed event? What if the universe needs me to die?" There were opposing forces at work in Clara. Her humanity didn't want to die. Her humanity was willing to do anything to survive. But whatever Adelaide had instilled into her, everything Adelaide had made her, told her that she needed to die.

"The universe is over!" he sneered, and Clara really saw the Time Lord Victorious. And she was terrified. "It doesn't have a say anymore! We're standing on the last ember, the last fragment of everything that ever was. As of this moment, I'm answerable to no-one!"

Clara prayed for Adelaide.

Someone knocked four times.

"How can there be anybody there?" Clara hissed.

Someone knocked four times.

The Doctor looked down. "Four knocks. It's always four knocks." Clara moved towards the door, but he stopped her. "No. This one I do alone."

"What's out there?"

"Me."

The Doctor left Clara in the TARDIS. They were still in the Cloisters, but there was light drifting in from above now. Everything had crumbled. Everything was decaying. Despite the mess, Adelaide would have preferred it – far more light.

"I told you once," he said to the room, seeing a figure in the center, "so long ago, that the universe would become a very small place when I'm angry with you. Small enough for you yet?" Ashildr was sitting in a chair at a chess set. "Hello, me."

"You don't seem surprised to see me."

He shrugged. "At the end of everything, we should expect the company of immortals, so I've been told."

"Even the other immortals are gone. It's just me."

"The one and only me." The Doctor nodded. "Finally, you earn the title, sitting here in a reality bubble at the end of time itself." He glanced around them. "How are you sustaining it, by the way?"

"Brilliantly. I've been watching the stars die. It was beautiful."

"No. It was sad."

"No, it was both," Ashildr corrected. "But that's not something you would understand, is it? You don't like endings. They're too logical." He wasn't looking at her. She was Adelaide now. Everyone was Adelaide. "She died, Doctor. Clara died billions of years ago."

"You killed her."

"No."

"You let it happen."

"No, I didn't. Neither did you. She did. She died for who she was and who she loved. She fell where she stood. It was sad, and it was beautiful. And it is over. We have no right to change who she was."

The Doctor had to close his eyes against the amount of Adelaide. "Ashildr..."

"Me."

"Me...go to hell." He opened his eyes. "By my calculations, you've got about five minutes."

She smiled. "You know why we run, Doctor?" He knew she included Adelaide. Everyone was including Adelaide. He missed and hated the Time Lady at once.

"Because it's fun."

"Because we know summer can't last forever."

The Doctor shook his head. "Of course it can. Of course it can. You just have to steal a time machine."

Ashildr leaned against one of her arms. "The Hybrid. Five minutes to hell. I think it's time to tell the truth. You were barely more than a child. You broke in here and the Wraiths spoke to you about the Hybrid. Why did that story make you so scared?"

"I don't know. I don't remember it."

"Sometimes you do." She almost smiled. "It's always the way with things we'd rather forget. You remember now, though, don't you? Tell me, Doctor, who is the Hybrid? Who threatens all of time and space?"

The Doctor turned, walking closer. "Oh, but that's easy. That's very, very easy. The Hybrid is...you."

Ashildr almost scoffed. "I'm human, with a little bit of Mire inside me. The Hybrid is supposed to be half Time Lord, half Dalek."

"No, it isn't. The actual prophecy specifies only two warrior races. The Daleks and the Time Lords have made assumptions, of course. And they would." He nodded at her. "Humans and the Mire, both warrior races. It fits perfectly."

Ashildr raised her eyebrows. "It's an interesting theory. You're not normally the one responsible for those."

"Do you have a better one?"

"By your own reasoning, why couldn't the Hybrid be half-Time Lord, half-human?" The Time Lord glanced away from her. "Tell me, Doctor, I've always wondered. You're a Time Lord, you're a high-born Gallifreyan. Why is it you spend so much time on Earth?"

"That's your best theory?" he turned away. "I'm the Hybrid? I ran away from Gallifrey because I was afraid of myself? That doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense, and you know it. Am I right? Is it true?"

"Does it matter?"

Ashildr stood. "No." The Doctor turned back around to look at her. "Because I have a better theory."

"Really?"

"What if the Hybrid wasn't one person, but two?"

"Two?"

"A dangerous combination of a passionate and powerful Time Lord and a young woman so very similar to him. Companions who are willing to push each other to extremes." Ashildr shrugged. "Adelaide, even Hybridized, wouldn't be nearly so destructive."

"She's my friend," the Doctor was quiet. He knew she was right. Hated she was right. "She's just my friend. Our friend."

"How did you meet her?"

Another Time Lady smirked from the shadows of his memory. "Missy."

Ashildr nodded. "Missy. The Master. The lover of chaos, who wants you to love it, too." She smiled. "She's quite the matchmaker. First Adelaide, then Clara. You should thank her."

"Clara's my friend."

"I know. And you're willing to risk all of time and space because you miss her." Ashildr nearly spat out the last three words, barely containing the mockery. "One wonders what the pair of you will get up to next. If Adelaide will finally come back to stop you." Ashildr kept saying her name. Kept bringing her back. Made the Doctor remember the one person who could actually stand against him. It was the only reason what Ashildr said now was working. She was being the Adelaide – nothing like the woman herself, but the effect was enough.

"Nothing." He said it and meant it. "Nothing at all. I know I went too far. I get it. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing."

"And what would that be?"

"I'm taking her back to Earth. Somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way. I'm going to wipe her memory of every last detail of me. It'll be like our friendship never happened."

Ashildr stepped into a shadow and became Adelaide in a blink, despite not changing at all. "That may not be what she wants."

Adelaide hated it when he took away people's choices. She hated it when he ignored the fact that his companions could make decisions for themselves. But he had to protect them.

He had a duty of care.

"I've done it before." Adelaide hadn't known how to stop him then. He wondered if she regretted it. "Usually, I do it telepathically, but this time, I've got something better. It's quite painless."

Ashildr glanced at the TARDIS. "Will you tell her what you're going to do?"

"Of course."

"When?"

"Now."

Ashildr gestured to the TARDIS for the Doctor to lead the way. "Onward, Time Lord Victorious."

He didn't respond.

Back inside the TARDIS, Ashildr following close behind, the Doctor found Clara still at the console, looking worried. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just, you know, my pulse." She gestured at her wrist.

"Yeah, we'll fix that somehow. I promise." He gestured back at Ashildr. "You remember Ashildr, of course."

Clara nodded. "Yeah, sure."

He frowned. "I thought you'd be more surprised to see her."

"I was watching. On the monitor." Clara nodded at the monitor she'd used, picking up the sonic glasses in the process and moving away from the console. She watched the Doctor take the neural block. "No." She stepped forward, hand out. "Doctor, whatever you're about to do, don't do it."

"It won't hurt, it'll be nothing." The Doctor could be very calming when he wanted to be. He could soothe if he tried. "You'll just pass out for a moment."

"And then?"

"When you wake up, you'll be fine."

"But..."

"Clara, just listen to me."

"Just say it." He didn't. "Say it. Come on. Tell me."

"When you wake up, you will have forgotten me. You'll have forgotten we ever even met." He looked away. "You'll have forgotten Adelaide too." The name was so painful, laden with internal and outward hatred, coming from him that Clara nearly winced.

"And why would I want that?"

"Because it's the only way." The Doctor gestured at her head. "That stuff in your head, the image of us, they could use it to find you."

Clara held up the sonic. "I...er...I used these."

The Doctor's hearts started to beat quicker. "On what?"

"That." She nodded at the neural block."

"What did you do?"

"What do you think? Ashildr's right, you see? We're too alike. Adelaide didn't teach me enough."

"Tell me what you did." The Doctor had darkened again, lost all that softness, though he still spoke quietly.

"What else? What else do you think I did? I reverse the polarity. Push that button, Doctor, it will go off in your own face."

He looked down at the device. "You were trying to trick me?"

"What were you doing to me?"

"I'm trying to keep you safe."

Clara stepped back from his attempt to take her hand. "Why? Nobody's ever safe. I've never asked you for that, ever. Either of you. These have been the best years of my life, and they are mine. Tomorrow is promised to no one, Doctor, but I insist upon my past. I am entitled to that. It's mine."

The Doctor was quiet for a long while. There was more Adelaide in Clara than anyone else could have seen. And more something else too. More something that was undeniably, perfectly human.

Perfectly Clara.

"Oh, Clara Oswald." His arm fell, freehand going limp. Time Lord Victorious was completely gone now, hiding from the combined power of Clara Oswald, who was a force unto herself. If Time Lords could be Aligned to multiple people and non-Time Lords – and the Doctor had no idea if it was possible – he knew he was Aligned to this remarkable woman. "What am I doing? You're right. You're always, always right."

Clara smiled. She didn't say that she'd learned it from Adelaide, but she would have been right then too. "So what happens now? Hey? Me and you, what do we do now?" They didn't need Adelaide for this.

Because something still needed to be done. He didn't need Adelaide to tell him that.

He looked back at the block, holding it out between them. "I'm not sure you managed to reverse the polarity. I'm not even sure that you can. It'll do something to one of us." He shrugged. "Better than flipping a coin."

"Doctor?"

He looked at his companion again, tears brewing. "You and me together. Look how far I went, for fear of losing you. This has to stop. One of us has to go." Clara returned the sonic glasses to him, letting him slip them into his pocket.

"You really don't know which?"

He held out the device for her to take. "Let's found out. Let's do it like we've done everything else. Together." They could feel the lack of Adelaide now – not the lack of the protector, as had happened briefly before. The lack of the Time Lady who loved green and stars and theories and would always solve the mystery.

They both held the neural block without doing anything. Ashildr was still in the TARDIS, watching them both, one version of the missing Time Lady, but not quite the one they wanted just then.

"How about we just don't?" Clara said. "Why don't we just fly away somewhere? Runaway?"

The Doctor almost chuckled. "Oh, that'd be great, wouldn't it?"

"God, yeah."

They fell silent again, and it was the Doctor's turn to speak first. "Good luck, Clara."

"Good luck, Doctor."

Together, they pushed the button. Took that leap into the unknown.

The neural block whirred for a few seconds, but, to all the world, it didn't look like anything had happened.

"So...what happens now?"

Even the Doctor hadn't expected this. "I suppose...we just...er...we just wait a minute, I suppose."

Clara nodded. "And one of us...one of us will..." she started tearing up, "I don't think I could ever forget you two."

The Doctor blinked slowly. "Clara, I don't think you're ever going to have to."

He was the one to drop the neural block. He was the one to sway, stumble back and lean against the console. He would be the one to forget.

After all, when Clara Oswald wanted something done, it was done.

"No..."

"Run like hell," he told her, voice fading. He was clinging to consciousness, clinging to memory, clinging to the terribly bossy human who'd split herself along his timeline to save him.

"What?"

He slid from the console to the floor, Clara rushing to him. "Run like hell, because you always need to. Laugh at everything, because it's always funny."

Clara was crying now. Properly crying. So human. So wonderful. "No. Stop it. You're saying goodbye. Don't say goodbye!"

"Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends."

"Stop it! Stop this. Stop it!"

He grabbed her jacket. "Never eat pears. They're too squishy and they always make your chin wet. That one's quite important. Write it down."

"I didn't mean to do this." She was trying to hold him, trying to help him, but she'd already done everything she needed to do. "I'm sorry."

He touched her arm. "It's okay. It's okay. I went too far. I broke all my own rules. I didn't listen to her. I became the Hybrid. This is right. I accept it." Over her shoulder, there was Adelaide again, observing, but it wasn't Adelaide. It was and it wasn't. She was there and he wasn't. Protecting and betraying.

"I can't." Good old Clara. "There has to be something I can do."

"Smile for me." He tried. "Go on, Clara Oswald, one last time."

She had tears streaming down her face. She didn't, couldn't, try. "How could I smile?"

"It's okay. Don't you worry. I'll remember it."

And then he was gone.

|C-S|

Adelaide had no idea of what had happened on Gallifrey. Clara ensured that.

She didn't go to visit the Time Lady, feeling that would be too dangerous. She didn't make the Time Lady forget her, feeling that would be too rude.

Adelaide knew that Clara had died on the trap street. That was enough.

Once Clara was finished checking in on the Doctor, she stepped back into the console room of the TARDIS they'd stolen from Gallifrey. Ashildr was at the console, reading the manual.

The immortal had lived until the end of the universe without a time machine. It was time she got one.

Good thing that Clara knew how to pilot one. At least, she knew how to look like she did, and that was the first step.

"I don't think I've got the Chameleon circuit working," Ashildr said, looking up from the book. "The outer shell might be stuck as an American Diner." They'd transformed it into one so that Clara could speak to the Doctor.

"Awesome."

"Still no pulse?"

Clara checked, but she hadn't expected to find one. You didn't spend time with Adelaide and maintain hope that time might change its mind. "Time isn't healing. I'm still frozen."

"You know what that means?"

She nodded. "It means my death is a fixed event. The universe depends on it happening." She smiled. "I'm Aligned to myself."

"I'm sorry."

Clara moved around the console. "Why? Why does everybody think I am so scared? We all face the raven in the end. That is the deal." She flicked something on the console and was thankful when it did nothing serious. "If I go back to Gallifrey, they can put me back, right? On Trap Street, the moment they took me out?"

"Of course."

"Mind you, seeing as I'm not actually aging, there's a tiny little bit of wiggle room, isn't there?"

Ashildr raised her eyebrows. "Wiggle room?"

Clara nodded. "Wiggle room. Yeah, you know, wiggle room. Even Adelaide never neglected a little wiggle room." Time was going to make her death happen as it should no matter what she did. It wasn't like she was trying to disregard it, bend the rules to fit her own desires. She had every intention of returning to Gallifrey, and time would know that. "We could...you know, stop off on the way." When Ashildr grinned, Clara began typing into the console.

"Where are we going?"

The TARDIS gave a jolt as it prepared for flight, both women clinging to the console. "Gallifrey." Clara nodded again, making it clear to time and herself. "Like I said, Gallifrey. The long way round."

 **A/N: As much as I loved Clara's original death, I was quite happy to know she got a few more adventures in that wiggle room ;)**


	21. Missed Connections

**Missed Connection**

The Doctor had decided that he did not enjoy traveling alone. He'd thought he would, after so long under the combined power of not being able to and not wanting to – both of which he could blame on Adelaide's influence. He'd never wanted to be apart from her.

There had been the briefest moment when the Doctor had thought he would enjoy it. When he'd thought that he needed a break from her just as much as she did of him. But that had been a lie.

He missed her.

So much.

And she hated him.

She hadn't said it, but he knew it was the truth. He knew how she felt, the terrible truth of it all.

She wanted nothing to do with him.

So he would be alone.

At least, that had been his honest goal. He'd been prepared to be alone, not interfering, for the rest of time.

And then someone had knocked on his TARDIS and he'd been led to River Song attempting to steal a diamond that had ended up embedded into the head of King Hydroflax.

River's original plan involved them being responsible for the removal of Hydroflax's head but, thankfully, the man and his android body took responsibility for that. Now, they were running.

All would have been normal for the Doctor and River – even without Adelaide – except for the small fact that River, for some reason, didn't recognize the Doctor as the Doctor.

She didn't know this face. She didn't have any record of it. To her, his last body had been the one who died on Trenzalore.

It seemed that the universe had planned for the Doctor to die then. But he, being him, had messed up that plan.

It felt like something Adelaide could have been angry about him for, though he was very thankful she wasn't. At least she was, at least as far as he was aware, happy he'd survived.

When the Doctor and River rematerialized in this first stage of fleeing, they were at least two feet above the ground. They both shouted as they fell.

"Ramone!" River called out. "Just once, can you get the height right?"

"Sorry, Professor," a man called, speaking through River's communicator.

"When I escape, I will bring terror to you and your family," Hydroflax's head grumbled from within the bag, a bit muffled. "There is no escape from the..."

River ignored him. "Home in on my signal. Get a shift on. Can you locate the Damsel or the Mentor?"

"I'm on it. The capsule is really close."

The Doctor, meanwhile, hadn't managed to stand. He'd taken the chance to laugh, really laugh, for the first time in a long while. It was harder to laugh when you were completely alone. He wasn't going to shirk this chance to really laugh at this stupid talking head in a bag.

River was a bit more constrained. "Is something funny?"

"Who dares laugh at Hydroflax?" the head continued, which didn't help the Doctor's situation. "You shall be crushed! You shall scream in fear! Let me out of this bag!"

"This is a serious mission in critical phase. There is nothing to laugh about here."

"We're being threatened by a bag!" the Doctor reminded her, still laughing. "By a head in a bag!"

"I shall make dust of you. My enemies are meat for the devouring!"

The Doctor sat up more, shaking his head, as she attempted to suppress her laugh. If he didn't look at her, he could pretend she was Adelaide. It was something Adelaide would have done if forced into this situation. "I can't approve of any of this, you know, but I haven't laughed in a long time."

"Well, good for you."

"Prepare to die in agony and submit to my supremacy! Unzip this bag!"

River couldn't hold it back any longer. She laughed with the Doctor. "You know, don't you?" he asked her, still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, River did know him. Maybe the universe hadn't fully intended that he stop at Trenzalore. Maybe Adelaide didn't have to hate him for that too.

"Know what?"

"Stop pretending. You know who I am."

River laughed again. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am." He gestured at himself, grinning. "It's...it's...it's me."

"Great." River shook her head. "Who are you?"

He tried to laugh but it didn't quite last.

"Professor Song!" a young man called, hurrying up to them. "Sorry, Professor. Sorry about the height thing."

"Prove it." River leaped up and kissed this new young man quite hard...and for quite a long time.

The Doctor wasn't a big fan of kissing...specifically when other people did it. He didn't mind it so much personally...if he was kissing Adelaide. But they didn't do it often, and it was Adelaide, so it was a completely different thing. This, on the other hand... "Urgh!" he grimaced. "Doesn't it get dull after a while? As an activity, it's not hugely varied, is it?"

River finally pulled away to address the Doctor where he was still lying on the ground. "I'm so sorry. This is my husband, Ramone."

"Another one? Are you going to kill him, too?"

Ramone shook his head. "We're not actually married."

"Ah, we are, in fact. I wiped it from your memory."

Ramone frowned. "Why?"

"Well, you were being annoying." River shrugged. "So, the Damsel or the Mentor. Do we have a fix on either?"

"Found his capsule just over in the village, but I can't locate Damsel. I've looked everywhere."

The Doctor finally stood. "Who's Damsel? Who's Mentor?"

"Have you been thorough? It's not easy, you know. He does have twelve faces."

Ramone pulled out a wallet of all the Doctor's previous faces...and it didn't include this current one. There was no sign of a similar one of Adelaide's, at least that the Doctor could see. "None of these men are here. Are you sure it's one of these?"

River nodded. "Yes! He only has these twelve faces. He'll be around here somewhere. This is the closest intersection with the Doctor's timeline, which has a high chance of an intersection with Adelaide's. This is why I crashed Hydroflax's ship here."

"Damsel and Mentor," the Doctor said, nodding.

"His codename, Damsel in Distress," Ramone explained. "Apparently, he needs a lot of rescuing. The other one, Adelaide, is the Mentor because, apparently, she's quite clever. A good teacher. Tends to turn up wherever Damsel is, even if they don't know it."

The Doctor kept his jaw tight, but he tried not to show it. "What if he has a face that you don't know about yet?"

"He has limits." She looked back to Ramone. "Well, then, let's go find him."

|C-S|

River and Ramone led the way through the street, walking together, while the Doctor carried Hydroflax's head.

"What if we can't find him?" Ramone said. "We need to get you off-world now."

"Off-world." The Doctor made a face. "People never say that." He laughed. "Are you new?"

River kept ignoring him. "We can't hang around waiting. He could be ages."

"Yes, he's probably off rebuilding a civilization or defeating giant robot fish..."

They'd arrived at the TARDIS. "We'll just have to steal it."

"...from the ninth dimension..." the Doctor shook his head, blinking. "Sorry, what?"

"The hopper is really close," Ramone tried. "We would be out of here in less than ten minutes."

River shook her head. "I need time travel. I need this TARDIS."

The Doctor tried to push his way into the conversation. "I'm sorry. The word 'steal'. Somebody said 'steal'."

River turned to him with much the same look as he'd seen on Adelaide's many times, though it was usually addressed toward a companion. "Yes. We're going to steal this box. Hush," she waved a hand, "you wouldn't understand."

"You can't."

"Why can't I?"

"You can't just steal a TA...a box."

River frowned. "Why not?"

"Look," he pointed at the top of the box, "it says Police."

"I have a key." River held up a key that the Doctor was immediately regretting having given to her, even if he didn't actually remember when that exchange had occurred. He did wonder if she also had a key to Adelaide's TARDIS. If he could find a way to steal it and then get back to Adelaide and break in and face her hatred because he deserved it.

River was, meanwhile, unlocking the door. "Okay," the Doctor tried. "This...er...Damsel person. He sounds...he sounds pretty dangerous. Ish. And this Mentor...sounds even worse."

"It's a time machine," she shrugged. "I can take it, do whatever I want for as long as I like and pop it back a second later. She might notice, but it's more likely she's not here and he'll never know it was gone."

The Doctor frowned. "Yes, he will."

"How?"

"He'll just know."

"Well, he's never noticed before."

"Maybe he'll notice now."

River just laughed. It was absurd. She turned back to Ramone, wrapping an arm around him. "I'll see you on Temple Beach." She kissed him and the Doctor restrained his grimace...barely. "I've already picked out your swimwear."

Ramone nodded. "Okay, but be careful."

"Absolutely not." River stepped back, pointing at the Doctor. "You, with me. Bring the head." She hurried into the TARDIS, leaving the men alone together.

"Please," Ramone said, looking pained, "look after her for me." He turned away, starting to go off.

As the Doctor turned to face the TARDIS, River popped her head back outside. "Oh, before you come in, you'd better prepare yourself for a shock. It's not as snug as it looks." She vanished again.

The Doctor couldn't help but grin. Even without Adelaide, even without River recognizing him...this was going to be good. "Finally."

Ramone, who was still close enough to hear him, glanced back. "Finally?"

"It's my go."

|C-S|

They were on a ship of some kind, the Doctor was aware of that. Something about it made the hair on his neck stand up – he didn't like it. He didn't want to be here. He wished River would explain properly and would stop holding his hand and hushing him. People didn't do that to him! That wasn't how this worked!

The room they'd entered was filled with small groups of well-dressed humanoids all standing around chatting. It seemed to be some sort of party. The Doctor really didn't like that.

As River turned from closing the doors to the baggage hold and the terror that they'd left inside, an alien approached them, wearing a suit. "Ah, Doctor Song," the alien said, smiling. "Your table is ready."

"Flemming!" River grinned. "How are the twins?"

"Still digesting their mother, thank you for asking."

"I'm sure it was a lovely ceremony."

Flemming nodded. "Oh, there were tears. And just a hint of screaming." Both Flemming and River laughed.

"Er, Flemming," River smiled, "I wonder, could you deadlock seal the baggage hold for me?"

Flemming frowned. "It's a little irregular. The other passengers might want access."

River leaned forward. "Do you remember that time I was transporting dragon eggs?"

Flemming looked slightly panicked. "Consider it done." He clicked a device from his pocket, switching the door lock from green to red with a loud thud. "Is the gentleman here for dinner?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, he is."

"Excellent! I'll have the chef prepare him immediately."

The Doctor's eyes widened, stepping back. "No, you won't."

River put a hand on his arm. "Er, he will in fact be joining me to eat."

Flemming nodded. "I was about to suggest that force-feeding might be required. This way," he stepped back, gesturing behind him. "Oh, may I take your bag?"

River held it closer. "Oh, no, no, no, no. That's fine, thanks."

There was muffled shouting from inside the bag. The Doctor grabbed his stomach in a terrible attempt to disguise the obvious source of the sound. "Sorry. It was my stomach. I have an irritable bowel."

"My revenge will be merciless! I will rip you open and devour you!"

He shrugged. "It's having a day."

"You cannot escape!"

Flemming nodded. "This way."

"Your actions will not go unpunished!"

River turned and threw the bag to the Doctor, making the head inside grunt. "Here. I don't suppose you mind if I freshen up." When the Doctor didn't complain, River sprayed something at her head and a cloud of golden light flowed down her, shimmering her into pinned up hair and a black evening dress. "Not bad for two hundred, eh?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Two hundred?"

River waved a hand. "I have an augmented lifespan. Long story." She followed Flemming into the next room. The Doctor stared at her before following.

"So, what's the occasion?" the Doctor asked River.

"I've got the diamond. Now it's time to sell it."

He frowned. "I thought you were returning it to the Halassi?"

River gave him a look that he was fairly certain he'd given to companions before. "Tell me, were you born boring, or did you have to work at it?"

"Where did you find a buyer?"

River gestured to the room. "Look around you. The starship Harmony And Redemption, minimum ticket price one billion credits, plus the provable murder of multiple innocent life forms. Suites are reserved for planet-burners." She took a drink from a passing waiter. "Thank you. Even the staff are required to have a verifiable history of indiscriminate slaughter. This is where genocide comes to kick back and relax. Do try the fish." She smiled and left him, moving in the direction of one of the many dining rooms.

In leaving, she offered him a better view of the room and the other passengers, whose crimes were currently what the Doctor was attributing his unease to.

But, at that moment, he felt he may have discovered the real reason.

Adelaide was here.

His hearts felt like stopping and the Doctor found it vaguely offensive that they didn't actually.

It was not either of the Adelaides he knew, but it was the only other one he'd met previously. Her first regeneration. The one that had died from the Judas tree. The one who'd discovered its deadly effects on Time Lords. The one who'd taught at the Academy because it was the only thing she'd been able to tolerate while she waited for permission to travel because of course, she was going to wait for permission. The one who'd wanted to flee Gallifrey, but had managed to wait.

She was in a high necked haltered dark green gown, hair free around her shoulders. Beautiful in the manner Adelaide always managed to be. Not entirely comfortable, but not as obviously uneasy as he had seen her look in the dark. Not afraid.

She was even holding a glass, though just of water.

He didn't realize he'd stepped closer until after he nearly ran directly into someone crossing between them, forcing him to stop. He could see her better now. She was standing quite close to an older alien, looking very near to an escort, which made him feel sick.

The fact she didn't look happy made it a little better, though it didn't help to explain why she was there. He supposed she'd been dragged along to appease some genocidal planet's ruler so that she could properly study some aspect of their world, as he knew that she wasn't yet responsible for the necessary amount of innocent death – she never was. Not personally. Not intentionally.

He wondered how long it had taken for it to fully sink in that everybody in the universe wouldn't just bend over backward to give science free reign. How long it had taken before she'd started to accumulate planets to be indebted to her, willing to go to war with the Daleks if she'd asked them.

The Doctor was surprised when he could see her notice him. He hadn't expected it to take as long as it did, though he supposed she was distracted by her conversation. Her eyes, blue this time – a color that was so odd to see from any of her faces now – met his and she sniffed. She was shielding everything that would make her recognizable as a Time Lady, which had the Doctor realizing that he wasn't. To anyone who cared, he was screaming with the scent of Time Lord.

She recognized it. He watched her shoulders roll and those strange blue eyes narrow. She didn't recognize him, but she knew exactly what he was.

Before he could find River again and escape from a conversation that he'd very quickly decided that he, actually, didn't feel like having right now, Adelaide had excused herself and made her way through the crowd to him, taking his arm to stop him. That touch was all the Doctor could notice for a few seconds. Her voice was a ring, but thankfully part of his brain was processing it for him. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm..." he swallowed, "the Professor." Adelaide had never mentioned this meeting, which meant she didn't remember it, which meant he had to lie to her right now. "I'm here with a friend." He nodded toward River, who'd paused to socialize with someone she recognized and couldn't see where he was trapped. He wondered if she would have come over if she could see him. If she would recognize Adelaide's first regeneration if this face was at the top of a wallet like his. "Who are you?"

"My name is Adelaide." Of course, she wouldn't lie. Adelaide never lied. She hated lying. It wasn't logical, there wasn't a point.

At least, that's what she kept saying. The Doctor was under the impression that she kept saying it because she kept lying to herself and desperately wanted to stop.

"I'd recommend hiding your disgust." She finally released his arm. "They don't take kindly to it."

The Doctor nodded. "Noted."

She was studying his face. Adelaide was always studying his face. He wondered if she was hating him like she hated all Time Lords. If this was before she and the Corsair truly got to know each other before she'd drifted into more adventurous behavior. "Why were you staring at me?"

"I...I thought I recognized you."

"Have we met before?"

He shook his head. "No, not as far as I'm aware." How long had it been since she'd left Gallifrey? How long had it been since they'd first met? If this Adelaide had even bothered to remember the parent who'd been interested in the stars but had yet to dare to travel. If she thought about him when she looked out the door of her TARDIS at the expanse of the universe that she found simultaneously terrifying and intriguing. "Non-interference agreement?"

Adelaide nodded. She'd nearly backed away when River spoke. "Oh, hello, Adelaide."

He watched Adelaide smile. Watched her force her expression into something that wasn't quite pleasing, but was clearly the first form of one the Doctor knew well. "Doctor Song. You're his friend, then."

River glanced at the Doctor but didn't focus on him. "Yes, yes. I didn't expect to see you here."

Adelaide grimaced. "I didn't expect to be here either. Thankfully," she glanced behind her at the alien she'd left, "it appears that we're preparing to leave. I was hoping it'd be soon." She exchanged a look with River that had the Doctor believing they were both aware of something they weren't going to bother to share with him right now. "Good to see you, Doctor Song." She looked to the Doctor and all he could hear were his hearts and he knew that he would miss her forever. "Enjoy your evening, Professor."

"And you, Adelaide." He had to force the name to sound normal. Make it sound like it didn't mean the universe to him.

She left without a nod. River leaned close to the Doctor. "You've just meant the Mentor."

He couldn't say anything.

River took his arm and pulled him towards the dining rooms and the Doctor didn't succeed in not looking back at the hiding Time Lady in her dark green and attempt at a pleasing expression.

This was before she hated him.

 **A/N: The moment I reached this episode in my planning, I knew a former version of Adelaide would pop up. Can't explain how I knew, I just did.**

 **This story will be continued over in _Mistaken_ , which should be posted right after this chapter!**


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